


Average Ordinary Everyday Superhero

by cardinalgirl75



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Brienne saves the day a lot, F/M, I swear this was just supposed to be a one-shot, It got a little out of hand, Professor!Jaime, This is mostly just for fun, and manages to save Jaime from time to time too, but there are some more serious themes in here, but will anyone save her?, glimpses of Sansa/Margaery, superhero!Brienne, trigger warning: violent acts at a graduation, you might have to squint but they are there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 73,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25779664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardinalgirl75/pseuds/cardinalgirl75
Summary: Brienne Tarth is the most ordinary person people know.  She works an ordinary job, lives in an ordinary house in a quiet neighborhood, has ordinary friends...she even has an ordinary crush on her best friend.  Really, if one were to take a look at Brienne's life, they wouldn't find anything extraordinary.Which means she's following her father's first rule of being a superhero perfectly.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 150
Kudos: 199
Collections: Jaime x Brienne Fic Exchange 2020





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisisamadhouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/gifts).



> For the Jaime x Brienne Fic Exchange 2020, this was the prompt I chose:
> 
> "I’m a superhero and I have to save you from danger every second night, now are you really unlucky or are you doing it on purpose?" 
> 
> I hope you think I did it justice. :)

Trying to save the world  
I try to hide my true identity  
But no one knows it's only me

I'm just your average ordinary everyday superhero  
Trying to save the world, but never really sure  
I'm just your average ordinary everyday superhero  
Nothing more than that, that's all I really am.

~~Smash Mouth, "Average Ordinary Everyday Superhero"

~*~*~*~*~*

_“Rule number one to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn Tarth said to his daughter when she turned twelve and came into her powers, “is to blend in with everyone else. Don’t stand out any more than you have to. Don’t go showing off just because you have special powers or because you think it’ll help you make friends. Trust me, life will be much easier for you that way.”_

~*~*~*~*~*

To all outward appearances, Brienne Tarth lived the life of an average, ordinary woman in her early thirties. She worked in an ordinary job as an associate professor of literature at King’s Landing University, specializing in post-Second Long Night works, where she was known as an up-and-coming expert on the subject. She had a wonderful boss whom she revered and who she knew had submitted her for tenure sooner than she should have. If her colleagues found her somewhat erratic, given that there were times she had to cancel class at the last minute or showed up looking somewhat disheveled (and late) to faculty meetings, she got along with most of them as well as she could and made no waves.

She lived in an average townhouse, which she would be paying the mortgage on at a reasonable rate of interest for the next twenty years or so. She had ordinary neighbors who pretended to keep to themselves but still knew everyone else’s business. Brienne did her best not to attract attention.

Brienne dated average guys who ran the gamut from nice to complete assholes, only getting close to two of them. One relationship ended badly when she discovered he was only with her as part of a bet and the other fizzled out on its own, no hard feelings.

She had a father she wished lived closer to her, but after a severe injury forced him into retirement when Brienne had been eighteen, he’d decided to spend his days traveling all over Westeros once she left for college. A chance trip to visit Brienne while she was staying with a college friend at her home in Winterfell led him to settle in the North, where he became very good friends with Catelyn and Ned Stark. As often as Brienne called Catelyn for advice, she joked that Catelyn was like a surrogate mother to her, Brienne’s own mother having died of cancer many years earlier.

Brienne had a mostly ordinary group of friends, whom she’d met in college. They would hate to hear themselves described as such, and honestly Brienne didn’t think of them as “ordinary” except that they were like any other bunch of friends a person like her might have. She had her “good girl” friend, Catelyn’s daughter Sansa, who provided lemon cookies and sympathy on standby, and her “saucy girl” friend, Margaery Tyrell, who provided relationship advice even when not asked for and always had vodka shots on demand. They did their best to understand when Brienne had to take off with no warning in the middle of a girls’ night out, although Margaery sometimes complained that Brienne’s timing could be better.

She even had her “unattainable crush,” who for some reason insisted on being her friend even after she’d done everything to put him off, knowing she’d get a crush on him and knowing he’d break her heart in the end. Brienne had to admit that Jaime Lannister was the last person who could be called ordinary—everywhere he went, he drew attention. If it wasn’t his perfect hair, face, eyes, and/or body, it was his personality. He drew so much attention that Brienne initially tried to avoid him until she figured out that most people who saw them together assumed Jaime was humoring her. She seethed at knowing she was the recipient of condescension and pity, but sometimes a woman had to do whatever was necessary to stay under the radar.

Besides, Jaime was a great friend to have. He was loyal to his very bones, as she’d learned after finding out that he’d personally kicked the shit out of the ex-boyfriend who’d dated her for a bet. If she hadn’t been sure before then, she knew she could count on him to be at her side no matter what. He wasn’t significantly smaller than her, so she didn’t feel like a hulking giant when they hung out together. He was smarter than people blinded by his beauty gave him credit for. He knew almost everything there was to know about Aegon’s Conquest and was the pride of the King’s Landing University history department for his work on the subject. He was also endearingly nerdy, with his fascination of knights, chivalry, and their modern equivalent: superheroes.

Brienne wished she didn’t have the actual crush on him. That was annoying, but that was also life. He was unattainable for a reason, and she never forgot it.

Yes, if people were to take a look into the life of Brienne Tarth—although really, who would want to?—they wouldn’t find anything extraordinary. And that was exactly the way Brienne wanted it.

~*~*~*~*~*

In her ongoing mission to keep her non-superhero life as normal as possible, Brienne liked to stick to routines. Monday and Thursday nights, she had late office hours for her students. Wednesday nights were spent with Sansa and Margaery. She taught a self-defense class at her gym on Tuesday nights. She learned long ago that it was hopeless to plan anything for a weekend—not that villains respected her plans during the rest of the week all that much, but they seemed to prefer weekends to wreak havoc.

Every Friday at noon was the time she reserved just for Jaime. Their last morning classes let out within a few minutes of each other, so they met up at a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill three blocks from KLU campus that wasn’t trendy enough for the college kids, which made it a perfect getaway for professors.

Brienne had reached the entrance when her phone beeped. She paused and checked the message.

**Be there in about fifteen minutes. Finishing up talk with Dr. Dull. Order the usual?**

Brienne fired off a response in the affirmative, rolling her eyes at Jaime’s nickname for the dean of the history department, and went inside. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the dim lighting in the room, but once she had she saw that the room was half-full of professors, as it usually was around lunch hour. Brienne nodded at Pia, the usual Friday lunchtime waitress who was walking through the dining area with a tray full of drinks and took a seat at the first available booth.

While she waited for Pia to catch up to her, Brienne glanced through one of the menus that was always on the table. Not that she didn’t know what was on there by heart, or that she was likely to order something other than her usual, either, but she hated sitting alone in a restaurant. Even if it was rarely true, she always felt like people stared at her.

“Afternoon, Dr. Tarth. Where’s your partner in crime today?” Pia asked, setting down two glasses of water.

“Running just a bit late. How are you today?"

“Eh, I’ve got a paper due for organic chemistry next week that giving me fits, and my boyfriend wants me to go camping with him this weekend. Guess what I’ll be doing?”

“Staying up till three a.m. Sunday night to finish your paper?”

“Yeah, well, you know what they say—the things you do for love, and all that.” Pia smiled her usual enigmatic smile that didn’t reveal any teeth. “You waiting for Dr. Lannister, or ordering now?"

“He told me to go ahead and order. Two of the Friday lunch special, with Coke and Mountain Dew.”

Pia scribbled something on a notepad. “Two artery-clogging bacon double-cheeseburgers with fries, diabetes-inducing sugary drinks. Anything else?”

“I think that about covers it,” Brienne said with a chuckle. “Except I’ll also have a fattening deep-fried apple turnover for dessert.”

Pia made a small noise of disgust. “How do you stay in as good a shape as you do? You must live at the gym when you’re not at work.”

“You’re not far off,” Brienne admitted, taking a drink of water as Pia headed to the kitchens to put in the order. She set the menu back in its holder and checked the news on her phone.

_Robert Baratheon mulling over third term as Westeros Prime Minister…_

_Steel Street workers set to strike on Friday as negotiations with Ironborn Industries fall apart…_

_Two members of Gold Cloaks found dead in Flea Bottom alley, new gang feared taking over the area…_

Brienne generally did not interfere with the police as they did their jobs, because most crime that occurred in King’s Landing wasn’t out of the ordinary. She wished she could step in whenever a crime was committed, and she felt guilty because she couldn’t. Whenever she felt guilty, however, she remembered her father’s words.

_“Rule number two to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn had said, “don’t overdo it. You’ll burn yourself out faster than Morning Star can fly if you try to take on an entire city’s worth of crime. Not only that, but law enforcement types tend to get jealous and start calling you a glory hound if do. Better to step in only as needed. You’ll know when the time is right.”_

Something about the news of the two dead Gold Cloaks set off…well, if Jaime were here, he’d call it her “Spidey Sense” after some silly comic book character. Brienne touched her screen to view the story and read it thoroughly. There were few leads, but whoever killed the Gold Cloaks had left a business card in each of their pockets with the word KRAKEN on one side and the picture of said creature on the other. Police were asking anyone with information on the newly christened Kraken Gang to come forward.

Brienne put her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, feeling a tension headache starting. Just as there had been superheroes since the days of the Second Long Night, so too had there been villains they had needed to defend the realm against. Most villains wanted their own glory and came up with their own names, ranging from the ridiculous to the downright terrifying. Some, however, preferred to harken back to the villains of old.

The Kraken was one of them. She’d have to dig through her research when she got home to get the details and pray that details of the past Kraken’s defeat would help her defeat this iteration of the monster.

“Everything okay, Dr. Tarth?” Pia asked as she set down the drink order. “You look like you’ve seen something that didn’t agree with you.”

Brienne nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Just a bit of a headache is all.” The front door swung open with a brief flash of sunlight. “Thanks.”

“No problem. They’ve got your order on the grill now.” Pia set two straws on the table and glanced up. Her eyes brightened. “Hey, Dr. Lannister!”

Jaime took a seat across the booth from Brienne and said, “Hey, Pia.”

Pia looked like she was about to say something when there was a loud crash from the kitchen area. She groaned. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to be sweeping glass from the floor for the next hour?” She hurried off.

“Hello, Jaime,” Brienne unwrapped one of the straws and stuck it in her drink. “How’s Dr. Dayne today?”

“In a surprisingly good mood, but that’s probably because…” Jaime drummed his hands against the table. “He approved my sabbatical!”

Brienne smiled. Jaime had been campaigning for the time away from teaching for the past three months. “Did he really?”

“Yeah! I can’t believe it finally came through. Thought I was going to have to threaten to go to the Citadel or something to get them to approve.” Jaime ignored the straw and took a healthy drink of his soda. “I got the whole year.”

“That’s great, Jaime! I’m so happy for you.” Brienne took another drink of her soda. “So _now_ will you tell me what great plans you have for your time off? I’m going to be jealous no matter what they are, if that’s what had you hesitating.”

Brienne hadn’t been able to figure out why Jaime had been so reluctant to talk about what he planned to do on his sabbatical, given his tendency to talk about anything and everything. She’d figured he’d tell her when his need to talk overcame his flair for the dramatic, but he’d managed to hold out.

Jaime glanced around the room, most un-Jaime-like. He leaned over the table, motioning for her to come closer. Brienne followed his lead and tried to ignore the small thrill that went through her as he put his mouth next to her ear and whispered, “I’m going to write a book about superheroes.”

It took all of Brienne’s strength not to react to the news with a horrified shriek. She leaned back into her seat, fiddled with the unopened straw on the table, and managed a weak, “I’m sure that’s going to go down well with your colleagues in the history department.”

Jaime nodded eagerly. “The dean loved the idea.”

Brienne just managed to keep her mouth from gaping. “Dr. Arthur Dayne, the man you refer to as Dr. Dull, was excited about you taking a year off to do a project on a _superhero_?”

“Not just one superhero. It’s going to be on all of them—The Stag, The Hunter, The Morning Star. I may even take a run at figuring out the mystery of The Three-Eyed Crow, although you never hear about him in modern times. And of course, The Evenstar. He’s the obvious one to start with because he’s local.”

Brienne wondered when they’d turned down the air in the room. She crossed her arms over her chest to ward off a chill. “What exactly are you going to do with this research? Expose the superheroes and leave them vulnerable to attack?”

“Of course not!” Jaime looked horrified. “I would never do that. I want to research the origins, the history of the names and how—”

“Here you guys go,” Pia said, setting a plate heaped with food in front of Jaime. “Two of the usual.” She set Brienne’s plate on the table. “Anything else you guys need?”

_Yes. A pitcher of your strongest margaritas, immediately._ “I think we’re good, thanks.”

“Thanks, Pia, this looks great!” Jaime said with a bright smile.

Pia nodded, gave Jaime that Mona Lisa smile, then left.

“You were saying?” Brienne hope he didn’t notice her hand shaking as she salted her fries.

“Most of the superheroes have names that can be associated with the sigils of the ancient houses—Baratheon, Tarly, Tully.” He grinned. “Dayne.”

Brienne set the saltshaker down. “So _that’s_ how you managed to convince Dr. Dull to grant the sabbatical.”

“Hey, I like to think my powers of persuasion had something to do with it.” Jaime’s smile didn’t waver as he picked up his burger and took a bite. “Mmm.”

Brienne nibbled on a fry and waited for him to continue.

“Superheroes didn’t turn up until around the turn of the last century, so I doubt that they’re actually linked directly to any of the families. Even if they did have an ancestor who was connected, it’d be tough to know for sure. Most of the major noble families of Westeros were wiped out either in the War of the Five Kings, the Battles of the Mad Queens, or the Second Long Night. As a result, the history of those nobles got destroyed, which is how we ended up with milksop history books like Samwell Tarly’s so-called masterpiece.”

Brienne snorted. “Tyrion’s still pissed that the ancestor he’s named after was left out of it, isn’t he?”

“The man was the Hand of three monarchs! He should’ve been included!”

“He also committed patricide and was suspected of regicide. Those things tended to get frowned upon.” Brienne took a bite of her sandwich.

“ _Anyway_ , there were still some off-shoots carrying the family name here and there—which explains how I, Jaime _Lannister_ , am sitting across from you, Brienne _Tarth_. But mostly, the descendants from the nobles married into lesser houses and the names died out.”

Brienne ate one of her fries. “I assume you’re getting to your point about the superheroes and the ancient nobles.”

“Suppose that our current superheroes are descendants from those houses? Suppose the gods gave them superpowers based on the families they’re descended from? The Stag has superhuman strength. The Baratheon house sigil was a stag, and the best-known Baratheon was Robert…who was known for his strength.”

“He was also known for drinking, illicit activities with women, and not having an heir after Mad Queen Cersei had all his bastards killed to make sure no one would question the parentage of her own bastards.” Brienne took another bite of her food, swallowed, and said, “As for his two brothers, Stannis reportedly killed his only child and Renly died childless.”

Jaime ran a hand through his golden curls in frustration. “I’m not saying that The Stag is a direct descendant of the main Baratheon line. I’m saying that maybe he has a strand of Baratheon DNA, which was why he chose The Stag as his name. He may not even know he’s got it and the name’s just a coincidence. But that’s not the point of my project. Like I said, I’m not out to rip the mask off anyone. I just want to make the link between the characteristics of each superhero and which noble house they’re most likely to have come from.”

“Sounds like a lot of speculation to me.” Brienne ate another fry.

“If you think about it, that’s what history is a lot of the time. Second-guessing what someone’s intentions were based on what they wrote and reportedly what they said to others, who may or may not have been entirely accurate about what was said.” Jaime finished off his soda and set his empty cup close to the edge of the table where Pia would be able to see it. “For example, there’s no official proof that Mad Queen Cersei’s children were bastards. It’s not like they had paternity tests back then. We only have the word of Stannis Baratheon to say that she was sleeping with her brother. Given that declaring her children illegitimate bolstered his claim to the throne, he’s not an unbiased source.”

Brienne thought on this for a moment. “Good point.”

“Thank you.” Jaime swiped a fry from her plate, narrowly avoiding her attempt to smack his hand away when she realized his intent. “Have to admit, The Evenstar fascinates me the most.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Because unlike many of the other old houses, there isn’t a definite characteristic or ability that stands out when it comes to…” He looked slightly guilty. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but there aren’t any Tarths that stand out in history.”

Brienne did her best to glare at him. “I’ll have you know that there used to be kings on Tarth. There’s also a rumor that The Blue Knight was the last Evenstar’s heir who died in the Second Long Night.”

Jaime waved a hand in what Brienne assumed was Pia’s direction. “The Blue Knight was more likely one of the Mormont women. And I know about the kings. That’s where The Evenstar title came from. But unless your name’s Tarth, it’s not likely you could name any of those kings.”

Brienne wasn’t about to admit that being named Tarth was no guarantee she could name any of them, either.

“So, what are Tarths best known for? The Morning Star flies. Dayne’s sigil included a falling star. The Hunter has X-ray vision and hears things miles away, key abilities of hunters. Tarly’s sigil was a bow and arrow. Tarth’s sigil is suns and crescent moons, so what does that lend itself to? Depending on the source of your information, their powers are changeable.”

“Changeable? What, like car parts?”

Jaime snorted. “No. When The Evenstar first appeared, people documented that he was extremely fast. Then people reported that he had superhuman strength. Still later, people reported that he was telekinetic. There’s even reports that Evenstar might have pyrokinesis, but those fizzled out about fifteen years ago.” Jaime sipped his water as Pia had yet to appear to refill his drink. “These days, you get something of a combination. People say he’s super strong, but also telekinetic. Which seems a bit unfair to me—if you can already move things with your mind, why do you need to be super strong in the bargain?”

_Because sometimes you’re too far away to use your physical strength, and someone needs saving before you can get to them_ , Brienne thought. “I see the hamster wheel turning in your head. You have a special theory about The Evenstar.”

“Well, it’s one of two things—one, he’s immortal and there’s no record of any superhero having that ability. As for his powers, maybe they change over time or people get things confused about what he can do. Or…the title Evenstar passes down to the next generation just as it did back when there were kings on Tarth, meaning there’s a whole _family_ of superheroes out there. Their very own Justice League.”

Pia finally returned, pitcher of Mountain Dew in hand to refill Jaime’s glass without needing to take it with her. She turned to make sure Brienne didn’t need anything. Brienne gave her a smile that she hoped looked better than it felt and shook her head.

“Let me know when you’re ready for Hot Pie to drop the turnover in the fryer,” Pia said.

“Uh…” Brienne had forgotten she’d ordered the damn thing. She glanced at her hardly touched food with a decided lack of appetite.

“Oooh, you are a goddess,” Jaime said. “You must’ve known we’d have something to celebrate. Thanks, Pia!”

“No problem.”

Once Pia was gone, Jaime’s smile faded. “What’s going on, Brienne? I know superheroes aren’t your thing, but I thought you’d be happy for me.”

_And I would be, if you planned to spend your year surfing in Dorne or going north to take a piss off the Wall, like Tyrion’s always wanted to do._ “I am,” Brienne said, but she didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears.

Jaime knew it, too. “Do I mock your obsession with boy bands?”

“Mercilessly.” Brienne took a drink of her soda. “Ironic, as you look like you would fit right in with one.”

Jaime grinned, flashing a set of perfect teeth. “If only I could sing. Alas, the gods saw fit to give me the superpower of persuasion, which I put to good use today.” But as quick as it appeared, his smile was gone. “I know what you’re thinking—that I’m an idiot who’s wasting his time.”

“It’s not that,” Brienne said in protest. He raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Not _just_ that. I worry, Jaime.”

“I swear to you. I swear on these _fries_ that I won’t reveal anyone’s secret identity if by some miracle I discover it,” Jaime said, stealing another fry from her plate, again evading her attempt to smack him. “So you don’t have to worry now.”

“No, that’s not it. I get your point that there’s little chance you’ll figure out who a superhero is. Even if you only take into consideration the legitimate branches of the ancient nobles’ family trees, there are enough descendants that there’s no way to identify the superheroes with any certainty.”

“Thank y—”

“I’m worried about you. Because you’re going to do all this work connecting superheroes with the ancient noble families. While you and I know that you’re not going to be able to figure out who they are, and that’s not even the purpose of your project, who’s to say that some dumbass villain won’t think you know more than you do? What will happen then?” Brienne glanced around in case she hadn’t been able to keep her voice down. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she didn’t see anyone looking their way.

Jaime said nothing for a minute, which was unusual for him. Finally, he said, “If I didn’t know better, Dr. Tarth, I’d think you cared about me.”

“You’re an asshole.” Brienne grabbed her purse and started to scoot out of the booth.

Jaime grasped her wrist. “Brienne, wait,” he said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Don’t go. Come on. Please.”

Brienne broke free of his hold but sat back down, glaring at him. She felt heat rise in her cheeks, cursing herself for a fool.

“Believe it or not, I considered that,” he admitted. “And you’ll be happy to know that it was a concern Dr. Dull had as well. I don’t think he would have permitted the sabbatical if I didn’t have a plan in place for how to handle potential fallout.” He took a deep breath. “Most of my research is going to be on the houses I think match up with the current crop of superheroes. When I put the book together, I am going to make it very clear that it’s impossible to pinpoint who the superheroes are and that I’m making no attempt to do so. I’m just linking the superheroes to the houses based on certain characteristics.”

Brienne took a deep breath and willed herself to calm down.

“Brienne, I really am sorry I upset you,” he said quietly. He reached out and took her hand in his again. “C’mon, you know me. When do I take anything seriously?”

“If you’re trying to reassure me, that’s not helping,” Brienne replied, but she softened a bit. That may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that he was holding her hand, short-circuiting all the anger she’d felt moments earlier. “I know you think I’m overreacting.”

“A little, but I get it. I’d worry if our roles were reversed. Not that there’s a lot of danger in stalking boy bands, but…”

Brienne pulled her hand away and playfully smacked his. “Jerk. I don’t know why I like you.”

“Because I’m pretty?” Jaime batted his eyelashes at her flirtatiously. “You know, you underestimate me sometimes. If there were a villain out there who thought I knew something, how long do you think it would take me to use my superpower of persuasion to get me out of it? I’ll annoy him so much that he’ll beg you to take me off his hands in hours.”

Brienne rolled her eyes, trying to will away that little voice of worry as she said, “I take it back. You’ll be just fine.”


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part II: In which a party is held, and we discover that Margaery Tyrell has a "costume closet." Brienne really doesn't want to know what that's about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! To everyone who's commented on the story so far--thank you so much! I promise to respond to every comment after the authors are revealed. I wouldn't want to give myself away in the comments section!
> 
> Quick housekeeping note: I've added the "graphic descriptions of violence" tag to this story because even though I don't go into gory details, there is violence in this story. As my beta said, better to over-tag than under-tag, just to be safe. And now, part 2 of the story.

_“The third rule to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn told his daughter, “is to know your enemy as best you can. There will be times when you can’t avoid rushing into a fight to save someone, but even in these circumstances, don’t go immediately on the attack. Learn what you can in the moment. Discover his weaknesses, then take him down with them. If you don’t succeed, take what you’ve learned and develop a strategy for defeating him the next time. Because make no mistake, Brienne—there will be a next time.”_

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne didn’t have a great deal of time to think about Jaime’s upcoming sabbatical in the weeks that followed their lunch. Classes were nearing the end of the spring term, which meant term papers to grade, a final exam to fine-tune, constant questions and complaints from students, meetings with the rest of the literature department, _and_ her personal research into the history of The Kraken.

_The original Kraken was believed to have been a bastard son of Euron Greyjoy, also known as Euron Crow’s Eye. Though the origin has never been confirmed, most Krakens have a connection to that family. The abilities of The Kraken vary from generation to generation; however, most have the ability to render their victims mute for a time. Those who survive encounters with The Kraken are rarely able to describe their experiences, though it’s unknown if this is due to any lingering effects of the power being used on them or out of terror._

_All known Krakens have been male, though it was rumored that one Kraken, who evaded capture during Westeros’ transition to a constitutional monarchy, was a woman. Yara Greyjoy amassed a fortune through mysterious and some said nefarious ways. Although that Kraken’s plot to establish the Iron Islands as its own kingdom was foiled by The Three-Eyed Crow, The Kraken was not killed but was severely weakened, causing them to go underground…_

Brienne set an alert on her phone to inform her the minute a news story with a possible link to The Kraken appeared. She wasn’t surprised when most of the alerts only had shadowy mentions of them. From everything she’d read, this was typical of previous Krakens, who had been lurking figures until they felt the time was right to strike. The Gold Cloaks hadn’t reached out officially for The Evenstar’s assistance, though she’d received a brief message on her highly-encrypted email address from the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, who had done some research of his own.

**I don’t know if it’s someone appropriating the name Kraken to make themselves sound more imposing or if this is the real deal. Bobby B doesn’t want to take any chances either way, so be prepared.**

Brienne snickered at the thought of the Prime Minister being called “Bobby B,” then decided that he’d probably come up with the nickname himself. She agreed with Commander Selmy’s assessment, though, and sent a reply affirming that she was aware of the situation and would monitor it closely.

She got so wrapped up in everything that until Sansa appeared in her office on the last day of the semester and asked her if she was ready to go, she forgot about Jaime’s “going away” party.

“I knew it,” she said accusingly as she stepped into the small room. She gave the rickety chair across from her desk the dubious look everyone gave it and sat down.

“Seven hells,” she murmured. “I’m sorry, Sansa. I’ve been working on a lot of stuff and I…”

“So have I, but even I knew when to set aside another starry-eyed essay on Jonquil and Florian and call it a day. Grades aren’t due until the end of next week. You’ll have plenty of time to get them done _after_ Jaime’s party tonight.” Sansa leaned forward and placed her arms on a stack of papers. “This is your last chance to see Jaime before he goes on his sabbatical. Don’t even think of trying to weasel your way out of it.”

Brienne set down her ink pen and leaned back. “I wasn’t intending to weasel out of it. I planned to go, I just forgot it was today. And what’s with this ‘last chance to see him’ crap? He’s not going on a world tour. He’s going to hole up in his house and spend all his time on the computer trying to track down some ancient text that may or may not prove his theory. I’ll see him Sunday for brunch at Margaery’s.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he’ll be in Essos looking at some ancient text that they haven’t put on the internet for fear of ruining the papers.”

Brienne smiled ruefully. “Fine. We’re both guilty of hyperbole. Let me finish with this paper and I’ll stop for the day.” She went back to reviewing the text, trying not to let Sansa distract her.

Fat chance of that. Sansa looked around the room with a small frown as though she were seeing it for the first time. “You’ve got tenure. Shouldn’t you warrant something bigger than this rabbit hole you’ve had since you started here? For the Seven’s sake, Brienne, _my_ office is bigger.”

“Seriously, every time?” she asked.

“I keep hoping if I nag you enough about it, you’ll nag Sam to get you something better.”

“That would require Dr. Tarly to nag someone else about it, and he’ll never do that.” Brienne caught a grammatical error and made a notation on the paper.

Sansa got up and walked to a giant antique cabinet in one corner. “You’d double the space in here if you’d get rid of this thing.”

“Again with the exaggeration,” Brienne said, making another mark.

“Are you ever going to tell me what’s in here?” Sansa tried to open the door and found it locked, as she always did.

“My secret collection of rare comic books.” Brienne was starting to get frustrated with this paper. Were high schools bothering to teach kids how to write properly anymore?

Sansa laughed. “If you were serious, Jaime would have picked the lock long ago.”

“True. Look, I’m fine with the space I’ve got, big cabinet and all. Anything bigger would make me uncomfortable.”

She didn’t mention the other reason why she didn’t complain about her office, because as far as she knew, no one knew about it. King’s Landing University had been built during the Restoration, when much of the country had been rebuilding after the devastation wrought by years of war and the Second Long Night. As such, there were often little idiosyncrasies in the architecture that were unique to the era, including bolt holes and secret passageways. Brienne had discovered the door to a secret passage hidden behind a giant antique cabinet on her second day in the office. The passage led to a small shed just off campus. After a couple of modifications to back of the cabinet so she wouldn’t have to move it to get to the door to the passage, she had the perfect way of changing clothes and escaping campus without being detected whenever duty called.

She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the architect had been a superhero.

Brienne opened one of the drawers of her desk and tossed a slim paperback book at Sansa. “Here. Read some really bad prose and let me finish grading this paper.”

Sansa took the three steps back to the chair and sat again. “ _Seven Nights with the Blue Knight_? What is this?”

“I had a student reference it in her term paper. I was intrigued enough to check it out and then wished I didn’t. Characters who acted too stupid to live, unrealistic sex scenes, and if you’re going to write such trash, the least you could do is have a happy ending.”

Sansa thumbed through the pages. “And you’re giving it to me to read?”

“Misery loves company.”

Silence fell as Sansa started to read. Brienne turned back to the term paper, determined to finish grading it in ten minutes because despite her protestations to the contrary, there were times when the size of her office made her feel like she was suffocating.

Brienne made further notations and wrote her comments on the bottom, then set it on the stack of papers she’d completed with a small sigh of relief. “Okay, that’s done. Let’s go.”

Sansa held up a hand. “Wait, wait. I’m picturing this position in my head and trying to figure out if it’s anatomically possible.”

“If it’s in that book, chances are it’s not.” Brienne stood up and stretched, her fingertips brushing the ceiling. “Euggh. I should’ve gotten up sooner."

Sansa tossed the book on her desk and stood up as well. “You mind if I ride with you?”

Brienne would _not_ laugh. “What’s wrong with your car this time?”

“Something’s knocking in the engine, so I took it to the shop this morning. Margaery gave me a lift from there, but she was going to be working right up to the start of the party and wouldn’t have time to pick me up.” Something in Brienne’s face must’ve given her away, because Sansa grumbled, “Go ahead, mock.”

“I just don’t see why you insist on driving that ridiculous Dornish piece of junk. You’ve spent more on repairs this year alone than a new, dependable car would’ve cost.” Brienne grabbed the offensive book and tossed it back into the drawer, then took out her purse.

“My car is a _classic_ and it makes a statement.”

“Yeah. It says, ‘Hi, I’m a piece of junk that’s going to break down every third week and bankrupt my owner.’” She slung her purse over her shoulder.

“Since you’re kindly driving me to the party, I’ll ignore your insults to my baby this time. We just need to run past my place so we can change into our costumes and then over to the music hall.”

“Costume?” Brienne frowned. “What costume?”

“Did you not read the invitation? It’s a costume party.” Sansa gave her a sweet smile. “You’re supposed to dress up like your favorite superhero.” She walked out of the office and down the hall.

Brienne stopped dead at the door. “Oh, come _on!_ ” she groaned.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne had been tempted not to dress up at all, but one flicker of disappointment in Sansa’s eyes convinced her that she should at least make some kind of effort. Sansa did guilt trips better than everyone but her mother, Catelyn.

The problem was, because Brienne hadn’t read the invitation (why should she have done so, when she already knew when and where the party was being held?), she didn’t have an outfit. She could hardly wear the suit hidden in the trunk of her car, and may the gods help her if she ever got a flat tire. But unless she could come up with something else, she might not have a choice. As Sansa changed into her costume, she frantically searched for something— _anything!_ —in King’s Landing that might do.

_If only it were closer to Stranger’s Eve. Then I’d be spoiled for choice. But no. It’s spring and there’s nothing._

“Don’t freak out,” Sansa said from her bedroom when she bemoaned the lack of costume options. “We’ll stop by Margaery’s place first. I’m sure she’ll will have something in her costume closet that will work.”

“Costume closet? Why in the seven hells does Margaery have a costume closet?” Brienne asked.

“Do you really want the answer to that question?” Sansa’s voice sounded slightly strained, as though she were struggling to get into her outfit.

No, she really didn’t. To each their own and all that, but she didn’t want details. “Sansa, Margaery is hardly going to have something that will fit me. There’s a slight difference in body type.”

“What makes you think all the costumes in the closet are for her?”

“Just because you’re taller doesn’t mean your outfits would fit me any better than hers would!” Brienne wondered if she still had her old work uniform from Hot Pie’s at home. She’d gained some muscle since high school, but surely the shirt still fit, and she had plenty of black pants. Slap a mask across her eyes and she could go as Super Waitress.

Sansa came out dressed in a dark long-sleeved shirt with what looked like a yellow X crisscrossing her chest. Matching dark pants and boots completed the outfit. The costume fit her tall, graceful form well but wasn’t skin-tight, which Brienne expected most of the costumes tonight would be.

“What do you think?” Sansa asked.

“You look fantastic,” Brienne replied after a slight hesitation.

Sansa put her hands on her hips. “You have no idea who I’m dressed up as, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

With a small huff, Sansa explained that she was Dark Phoenix. She then launched into a five-minute explanation of the character’s backstory before Brienne tactfully reminded her that they were running late and Sansa had wanted to run past Margaery’s to see if there was something that might fit Brienne.

~*~*~*~*~*

To their surprise, a Catwoman-costumed Margaery was at her apartment when Sansa and Brienne arrived. To Margaery’s chagrin, the surprise she’d planned for Sansa—announcing that they would be taking a two-week vacation to Braavos to celebrate the end of the semester after the school’s graduation ceremony—was ruined when Sansa found the reservation print-out on the breakfast bar.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Margaery asked after receiving a resounding an enthusiastic kiss from Sansa for her efforts.

“Brienne doesn’t have a costume, so we’re here to see if you’ve got something that will do,” Sansa replied, heading for Margaery’s bedroom.

“Which I told her is ridiculous because anything you have would not come close to fitting me,” Brienne said, raising her voice so Sansa would hear her. “And I’m telling you now, Sansa Stark, I’m not about to wear anything that’s missing material or is see-through!”

“Oh, darling, you have to leave _some_ things to the imagination when you’re getting creative,” Margaery said. She grabbed Brienne’s hand and led her into the bedroom, where Sansa was already digging through a large black armoire that Brienne had noticed before but had never had any interest in investigating. (With good reason, apparently.)

Sansa muttered, “No…no…no…dear gods, Margaery, when did you get that and why didn’t you tell me?...aha! I _knew_ you had a secret crush on She-Ra!"

“On who?” Brienne asked as Sansa pulled out a…well, she supposed it was a dress. A very short, strapless white dress adorned with what looked like a gold flower on the front. The sweetheart neckline had what looked like gold wings coming up from it. There was a matching gold belt and a red cape completed the ensemble, along with a ridiculous gold tiara crown type thing with a red stone in the middle.

“Didn’t your father let you watch cartoons growing up?” Sansa asked, handing the garment to Margaery and turning her attention back to the armoire. “Hey, you’ve even got the sword!”

“I watched Bugs Bunny,” Brienne replied. “Road Runner, Sylvester and Tweety? My father loved those cartoons.”

Margaery looked at Brienne, then at the outfit, then back at her. “You know, I think this might fit.”

Brienne looked at the outfit in horror. “Are you nuts? I’m not wearing that.”

“Why not? I think you’ll look amazing,” Margaery replied.

“Because…because I don’t have the cleavage that outfit requires. Or the waist. Or the hips. Or the legs.” Brienne had always been large and taller than most men. An outfit like that belonged on a dainty, curvaceous woman, not a lumberjack like her.

“I’m sure we can find something for the cleavage, the belt will make you look like you have a waist, and you’ve always underestimated the appeal of your legs.” When Brienne opened her mouth to protest, Margaery said, “C’mon. If you don’t get a move on, we’ll all be late.”

Brienne yanked the hanger from her, muttering, “Fine.” She went to the master bathroom to change, trying not to think about who might have worn this outfit last and they might have done in it. At least Sansa was a neat freak, so she knew it was clean.

To her surprise, the outfit had a built-in push-up bra and corset. While it didn’t exactly give her massive cleavage, it did give a bit of a boost to the little bit she had. The corset was more instrumental in giving her a waist, and the skirt managed to hide her lack of hips.

Sansa wolf-whistled when Brienne walked out. “We have a winner,” she announced.

Margaery nodded. “Told you that outfit would work. It’s just missing one thing.” Margaery took the gold tiara crown type thing and attempted to get it on Brienne’s head. Since Brienne stood a foot taller than Margaery, she nearly stabbed her in the eye with it instead.

“Nope,” Brienne said even as Sansa took the crown from Margaery and, having a few inches height on her, was able to perch it atop Brienne’s straw-colored mess of hair.

“Yep,” Sansa replied. “All hail She-Ra, Princess of Power!”

“You are so full of it, and I’m not wearing this,” Brienne said as Margaery handed her a gold sword. “Not even with the sword.”

“Brienne,” Sansa said. “You’re one of my dearest friends. I would never let you be embarrassed by going out in an outfit that made you look ridiculous. You look like a warrior queen in that, so wear it with pride.”

Brienne glanced in the mirror, but all she saw was ugly Brienne Tarth wearing a skimpy white dress and a ridiculous tiara thingy.

_The things I do for you, Jaime Lannister. But I swear to the gods, the first person to laugh at me in this will lose their front teeth._

“Fine,” she grumbled. “Let’s go.”

~*~*~*~*~*

The original plan for the party was that the university would hold it in Rosby Hall’s conference room, being the largest on campus. Had this come to fruition, the gathering would have been a sedate affair with only faculty, Jaime’s immediate family and close friends, and perhaps some of the more honored graduate assistants present. There wouldn’t have been any costumes, that was for damned sure.

However, when Jaime’s younger brother, Tyrion, came through town two weeks earlier and heard about this plan he took over. The next thing everyone knew, the party location was moved off campus to the larger Marillion Civic Center in the heart of downtown King’s Landing. A superhero costume theme was added. The guest list tripled. And with Tyrion being involved, there was bound to be alcohol and hijinks aplenty.

Despite the invitations saying the party wouldn’t start until seven o’clock, the civic center’s parking lot was almost full when Brienne arrived at 6:45. She parked behind a dented gray Direwolf truck. Margaery and Sansa parked next to her. She again debated the wisdom of wearing this outfit in public, gave serious consideration to peeling out of the parking lot and escaping to The Land of Always Winter, but finally shut the engine off. She cautiously got out of the car so she wouldn’t flash her underwear at anyone who might be watching.

“Good gods, did Tyrion invite all of Westeros?” she asked.

“You know Tyrion. The more, the merrier,” Margaery replied. “C’mon. Let’s strut our stuff and see what Tyrion came up with.”

Brienne shuffled along behind them with every intention of propping up a wall for the night.

The party had already spilled out from the main ballroom that Tyrion had rented into the lobby, and Brienne counted five Evenstars already. Despite being aware of her alter ego’s popularity, it was still disconcerting to see so many people dressed up as…her. She did her best not to stare at them as she continued toward the ballroom entrance.

True to form, Tyrion had gone all out for his beloved older brother. The normally staid balloom had been transformed into a dark, mysterious underworld where nefarious crimes could happen—and often did. The “walls” were covered in graffiti—various names, misspelled words, and a few symbols of villains past and present. The overall lighting was dim enough to add menace to the statues of suspicious looking characters dotting the edges of the room. As the three of them stood in the entryway, three spotlights swept around the room, bathing people in light momentarily before moving on. At the opposite end of the entrance was what looked to be a huge crashed police van. The hazard lights of the police van blinked off and on, off and on.

Brienne shivered. This felt like a scene out of one too many situations she’d walked into. She took a deep breath and told herself to focus on things she wouldn’t find in the bowels of this city. Waiters dressed in Gold Cloaks outfits carrying trays of finger foods...although come to think of it, she was pretty sure she recognized one of them as actually _being_ a member of the Gold Cloaks. The fact that the police van was actually the bar. The huge crush of spandex-clad people dancing to “Batdance.” 

“Oh my gods!” Sansa exclaimed. “That’s…that’s _Dr. Dull!_ ” She pointed toward the middle of the dance floor, where a tall, bulky man in what looked like a Morning Star costume danced with a petite woman in scarlet. It was indeed the stalwart Arthur Dayne of the history department, who had been the subject of several bets in the days leading up to the party as to whether or not he would dress up.

“Dammit,” Brienne muttered under her breath. “I bet Jaime twenty dragons that Dr. Dayne wouldn’t pick Morning Star for his costume.”

“Sucker bet,” Margaery said. She grabbed Brienne by one arm, Sansa took the other, and they marched her further into the room.

 _Sometimes it sucks having friends who know you so well,_ Brienne thought as they wandered around. She knew she was attracting her share of looks, though the lighting was poor enough that she couldn’t see the sneers and the music was loud enough she couldn’t hear the snickers. _Keep your head high. They’ll play a sappy slow song soon enough. Sansa won’t be able to resist pulling Margaery onto the dance floor for that._

“Do you see Jaime anywhere?” Sansa shouted over the noise.

Brienne shook her head but used her height advantage to see if she could spot him. On the plus side, Jaime was taller than most if not quite her height. On the minus side, she had no clue what his costume was, and she wasn’t about to go up to every tall man who thought he was Batman or The Hunter or whatever to find out.

“I think I see Tyrion over by the bar,” Margaery called out. She pointed toward the police van, where a very short figure dressed all in crimson with a lion emblem on the front sat on a barstool, drink in hand. “Maybe he’ll know.”

The three of them skirted the edge of the room to get to the bar, where sure enough, Tyrion Lannister was in his usual perch. Born with dwarfism, Tyrion had grown up with a blazing intelligence and a fierce desire to give his father a firm middle finger in all things. His twenty-first birthday party, when he reached his majority and inherited a tidy fortune from his late mother, had been legendary for its debauchery. Rumor had it he’d more than quadrupled the inheritance he’d received, though no one knew exactly what it was Tyrion did for a living, not even Jaime. All anyone knew was that Tyrion traveled all over the world, and he did it in style.

“Ladies!” Tyrion’s squashed face with its curiously misshapen nose broke into a smile at the sight of them. “Glad you could make it.”

“Like we’d miss one of your parties, Tyrion,” Margaery said.

“Or be allowed to,” Brienne mumbled under her breath. Sansa dug an elbow into her ribs. “ _Ow.”_

“Which superhero are you supposed to be?” Sansa asked as the song ended. “I don’t keep up on them like my brother Bran does.”

“I decided to break with tradition and be my own superhero,” Tyrion replied. “The Lannister sigil was once a gold lion on crimson, so I’m declaring myself to be the Golden Lion. Hear me roar!”

For the first time since she arrived, Brienne relaxed. She’d always liked Tyrion. Even though he and Jaime looked almost nothing alike, he shared Jaime’s fierce loyalty to those he cared about, though his list of those he cared about was much shorter. Although she didn’t know what she’d done to land on that list, she was glad to be on it.

“What special power would Golden Lion have?” Brienne asked.

“As it happens, Dr. Tarth, I’ve given that some thought and I have a couple of options. Lions are strong and stealthy, so I’m thinking that Golden Lion would have superstrength or be able to become invisible.” Tyrion took a drink from his glass, then looked them over. “Interesting costume choices, all over the map. I’d approve all three, but Ms. Tyrell, Catwoman isn’t a superhero. She’s a villain.”

“She is _not_ ,” Margaery said indignantly. “She often teams up with Batman to fight crimes and the two have a serious relationship. Batman’s a superhero, so what does that make her?”

“His enemy with benefits,” Tyrion said as the music started up again—the theme to _Flash Gordon_. He saw someone in the crowd and waved frantically for them to come over. “Jaime! Settle a debate for us. Catwoman: Friend or Fiend?”

Brienne turned and nearly lost her breath at the sight of him.

Had she not known that her suits were custom-made by a tailor only superheroes knew about, she’d think Jaime had stolen one of her outfits. The silvery-blue suit with the pale-yellow cape fit him perfectly. Broad shoulders, toned chest and abs, well-muscled thighs…Brienne swallowed hard as she felt a sudden throb in her core. _Stop that,_ she admonished. Even though he wore the hood over his blond curls and a mask covering the top half of his face, she would have been able to pick him out of a lineup of Evenstars with ease.

Jaime paused to glance at the group before answering. “Friend or fiend…depends on which comic’s storyline you read. For the sake of tonight, let’s go with friend.”

“HA!” Margaery shot Tyrion a triumphant look.

“I bow to my brother’s superior knowledge, but respectfully request the opportunity to debate this further with you on Sunday at brunch.”

“That’s fine, because you’ll still be wrong.” Margaery turned her attention to Jaime. “Nice costume. Very authentic, wouldn’t you agree, Brienne?”

Sansa hissed something Brienne didn’t catch at Margaery. Brienne wasn’t sure why Margaery would ask for her opinion about whether any superhero costume was authentic. She shrugged. “I guess it is.”

“Jaime, what do you think of our costumes? Would you say that we’ve done a good job of representing our super _heroes_ well?” Margaery asked.

Jaime gave quick glances to Sansa and Margery, but for some reason, his gaze lingered on Brienne. “Uh…yes,” he replied. “You all look great.”

Tyrion snorted, muttered something that sounded like “Hopeless” into his glass, and finished off his drink.

“Thanks,” Sansa said. “You look great, too, Jaime. So, what are…” She broke off as the song changed to Chad Kroeger’s “Hero.” As Brienne predicted, Sansa squealed and said, “Come on, Margaery! I knew they’d play this song!” She dragged Margaery out to the dance floor.

Jaime continued looking at Brienne in a way that made her feel very odd. “You really do look fantastic in that outfit. Would you…”

“Jaime!” Almost out of nowhere, a woman dressed as Sand Snake appeared. Unlike the superhero she represented, she had opted not to cover her long light brown hair, which tumbled down her back in waves. Although she had a mask covering the top part of her face, Brienne recognized her easily as Melara Hetherspoon, who did something in Student Services. She linked her arm in Jaime’s. “You promised me a dance, and it wouldn’t be very heroic of you to let me down like that.”

Brienne somehow found the willpower not to roll her eyes as Jaime gave Melara his patented charming smile and said, “Of course it wouldn’t.” He allowed her to lead him to the dance floor, and Brienne tried not to think that maybe he’d been about to ask her to dance instead.

“I’d offer to dance with you, like my idiot brother should have done just now, but I think we’d both prefer not to make a spectacle,” Tyrion said, startling her because she’d forgotten he was standing there. “Instead, all I can offer is a drink.”

She didn’t indulge, but the sight of Jaime and Melara dancing under the soft gray light made her want to down an entire bottle of wine. She turned to the bartender and said, “Dornish Stinger.”

“Oho!” Tyrion laughed approvingly. “You really go for it with gusto when you drink, don’t you?”

“Not usually,” Brienne admitted. She almost added, _but some occasions call for it_ , but the last thing she wanted was to admit any feelings she might have for Jaime to his brother, of all people. “But I think I deserve something for getting through another semester without giving in to the impulse to send half of my students back to Basic Composition 101.” The bartender set her drink in front of her. Brienne realized she hadn’t brought her purse in with her, having locked it in the trunk of her car before leaving for the party, which meant she didn’t have any money on her. “Uh…”

“Don’t worry. Open bar. Didn’t figure most people would have places to stick extra money given the party’s theme.” Tyrion smiled at the bartender. “And the crew knows I’m good for the tip.”

Brienne thanked him and wandered off to find a free bit of wall to cling to for the night.

~*~*~*~*~*

Jaime found her one hour and two Dornish Stingers later, watching a spontaneous contest that had broken out on the dance floor to determine who was the most authentic Spider-Man.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were hiding from me,” he accused.

Brienne shrugged and finished off the last of the ice in her drink. She debated the wisdom of having another, remembered that she had driven herself here, and decided against it. “I was thinking about calling it a night after they pick a winner,” she said, “but I wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye to you.”

“But we haven’t even had a chance to talk or dance or anything. You left me in the cruel clutches of that leech from Student Services without an attempt to rescue me.”

Brienne snorted. “You looked happy enough to be in her clutches.”

“If I wanted to know all about how wonderful I am and how interesting history is, sure. I’d also die of boredom within two minutes because despite what you think, I am not my favorite subject and she knows as much about history as our esteemed Prime Minister.” Jaime tugged slightly at the neck of his costume. “I don’t know how the real Evenstar manages to wear this all the time without feeling like he’s choking.”

“I suspect the Evenstar doesn’t wear the outfit all the time. It might make them stand out at the office.”

Jaime laughed. “I guess it would at that.”

Brienne walked over to the bar to throw away her cup. She declined the bartender’s offer of another drink, as she was feeling the impact of the two drinks she’d already had. Jaime also declined, she noted, but then he rarely drank alcohol.

A loud commotion erupted on the dance floor as Tyrion announced, “Okay, we have separate winners in each of our categories, so it’s time to put it to a vote!”

“I’ve figured out that the kid who won the Best Costume is what’s-his-name that looks like PM Baratheon,” Jaime said. “Gendry something.”

“Gendry Waters.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I’ve seen his metal sculptures at the art center. But which Spider Man won for Best Moves?”

Brienne smiled. “Arya Stark. I’m not surprised she won that portion—I swear the girl can dance on water."

“Aha.” When Tyrion asked for people to cheer for the one they preferred, Jaime and Brienne applauded loudly for Arya, along with most of the crowd.

With Arya declared the winner, Tyrion handed the microphone back to the DJ, who immediately put on the Spider-Man theme song. Brienne laughed as Arya hopped onto Gendry’s back and they began moving like a spider standing on its back legs.

“I hope he’s not going to do this for every superhero represented tonight. You’ll waste half your sabbatical hanging around here judging costumes,” Brienne said.

“I don’t see Tyrion doing that. That would bring the party grinding to a halt,” Jaime replied. “Although if he wants to have a contest to pick out the most original choice for a superhero, I can’t think of a better winner than…”

“Oh gods, she’s going to fall off his back if she doesn’t quit doing that,” Brienne said as Arya had both arms free, using her legs to grip Gendry’s waist in what had to be a painful grip. Mercifully, the song came to an end and Arya hopped off of Gendry and gave a small bow to the applause. “Somewhere, Sansa is wishing she’d worn a costume with a full mask so no one would know she’s Arya’s sister.”

Jaime snorted. “Undoubtedly.”

The DJ scratched a record a few times and then, with seeming randomness, Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” began. Brienne instinctively turned to head back to her wall but was stopped by a gentle but firm grip on her elbow.

“Dance with me,” Jaime said softly. 

Brienne’s mouth went dry. Had he really said…but no.

“For the Seven’s sake, if you don’t give me an answer soon, the song will be over and who knows what they’ll play next.”

Brienne rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said, grabbing his arm and leading him toward the floor. She had every intention of lurking on the edges, but of course that wasn’t good enough for Jaime. He wriggled out of her grip, grasped her left hand, and pulled her closer to the middle.

Where everyone could see them. Where everyone would mock.

Then Jaime put his right arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, and suddenly she didn’t care anymore. They swayed to the music, neither saying anything, almost as if there were some sort of spell that talking would ruin. She wanted to look into his eyes, but she feared that if she did, she might do something stupid like telling him she was in love with him. She chose to close her eyes instead, only she wasn’t sure that was much better. Short one of her senses, every other one she had went on full alert. She felt the muscles of his shoulder underneath her hand. She became more aware of the warmth of his hand holding hers, the arm holding her close, closer…was she imagining that? She had to be, but she wasn’t opening her eyes to find out. She could smell the subtlety of the aftershave he used, something woodsy, and underneath it the smell that was just _Jaime_. She almost thought she could feel the bristles of his five o’clock shadow against her cheek, but she knew they weren’t close enough for that.

With her eyes closed, she could pretend she was the kind of woman that Jaime would be proud to come to parties with. Someone beautiful, poised, and confident. Someone graceful and lithe. Someone charming and charismatic.

Someone ordinary.

But she couldn’t be any of those things, even if she hadn’t been born the future Evenstar. She was who she was. She’d learned that even as the world admired and praised the Evenstar, they would always reject the woman in the suit. It was her lot in life, and she’d learned to live with this fact a long time ago.

The music faded out slowly, replaced by something more upbeat that Brienne didn’t recognize, but Jaime didn’t let go of her.

She opened her eyes at last and looked at him. He looked at her in a way she couldn’t figure out, his eyes almost soft in the way that men looked at other women, but not at her, never at her. Especially not someone like Jaime.

And yet…

“Brienne,” he began, and that was when her watch vibrated.

Brienne felt as though someone had plunged her into the icy waters of the Trident in wintertime. She’d paused all notifications to her watch tonight except for one—for The Kraken.

She stiffened imperceptibly in Jaime’s arms, and their connection was lost. Whatever he was about to say was gone, the look on his face disappeared and suddenly he was her old friend again.

“Jaime! There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you!” Like a Jaqen-in-the-box, Melara Hetherspoon popped up out what seemed like nowhere. “I wanted to ask you about something your brother was telling me. Is it true that there are dragons still in Asshai? He says he’s seen them, but I think he’s making it up. No one’s had dragons since Mad Queen Daenerys.”

Brienne took two steps back, just enough for Melara to snake in and loop her arm through Jaime’s. She gave him one last look before she turned and walked away.

Brienne murmured, “Party’s over.”


	3. Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part III: In which the Kraken Gang attempts to rob the Iron Bank, and Jaime finds a new obsession. Brienne really wishes he'd find something else to obsess over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! My continued thanks at the kudos and comments you've been sending my way!
> 
> A couple of housekeeping notes:
> 
> One: yes, the number of parts increased again, but I swear by the old gods and the new, that's the last time. This story is complete and the rest of it is currently with my beta. I may not be able to post all parts of this story by the deadline, but I'm going to give it my best. Which means...
> 
> Two: I will be posting three parts today! The first one is this one, which I have just enough time to post before work, and the other two will be coming later.
> 
> Three: I wanted to warn people about an event that will happen later in the story. It didn't occur to me when I came up with the idea for this that I should warn people about violent events that happen at a graduation ceremony. If this is something that could be a trigger for you, I apologize for not realizing this sooner. It is now tagged and I will let people know when it occurs if you want to read the rest of the story without reading about what happens.
> 
> And now, part 3.

Brienne called up the notification, which was short and to the point.

_Attempted robbery in progress at First Iron Bank of King’s Landing. Shots fired, casualties unknown. Number of potential hostages unknown. Early reports indicate that the Kraken Gang is involved_

Brienne felt the odd combination of dread and excitement that she always felt when she knew it was time for her to step in. Up to now, the Kraken Gang had taken care to commit their crimes covertly, with the Gold Cloaks and public only finding out after the fact. Now they were getting more daring. It had only been a matter of time, as she’d become more and more convinced that this gang was connected to this generation’s Kraken.

The good news for her was that the Iron Bank was a short distance from the Civic Center. She could get there faster on foot than she would by car, given how snarled traffic would be near the crime scene. The better news was that she was in the one place where she could come out of the bathroom wearing an Evenstar suit and no one would think it odd.

Brienne glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention, then pushed a button to dictate an email to Lord Commander Selmy. “Got notification, on my way. ES.” After checking to make sure the spelling was correct, Brienne pushed the send button and headed for the exit.

“Brienne!” she heard Sansa say behind her. “Where are you going?”

_I knew I should’ve ditched the damn tiara,_ Brienne thought with an internal groan. “Um, I’m starting to get a really bad headache. I think the lights and music triggered something. I don’t want to ruin your fun, so I’ll call a cab to take me home.”

“Are you sure?” Sansa asked. “I’m sure Margaery won’t mind if we take off.”

Brienne nodded and then grimaced as though in pain. “Yeah, I’m sure. Do me a favor and let Jaime know I had to leave. Tell him that I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye.”

“I will.” She gave Brienne a quick hug. “Be careful out there.”

Brienne didn’t get a chance to respond before Sansa headed back into the fray, but that was fine with her. Keeping a sharp eye out for anyone else she knew who might want to stop her to talk, she made a cautious but quick exit from the ballroom.

The minute she was outside, the buzz in her head from the alcohol faded somewhat. Brienne ran to her car, hitting the button on her key fob to pop the trunk when she got close. She opened the compartment where her spare tire should be and pulled out a large duffel bag.

Within ten minutes, she was back out the door of the civic center and on her way to the bank. She kept to the shadows as she ran, trying to avoid others and not always succeeding, but not taking the time to acknowledge their shock when they saw who it was. She didn’t dismiss the gifts the gods had given her, but sometimes Brienne really wished she could fly. Or at the very least that she could be a billionaire who could afford to come up with creative gadgets to get her places faster with fewer interactions with others. She’d had to buy six different cars over her tenure as Evenstar because people figured out what she drove. She’d become an expert at switching out her regular license plates for dealer plates, but it still ate up precious time.

As she got closer, Brienne saw that the Gold Cloaks had cordoned off most of the area surrounding the bank. Barricades had been erected to keep streets surrounding the bank clear of everyone who was not law enforcement. Within the barricades, Brienne counted about ten Gold Cloaks cars with lights flashing. There were too many Gold Cloaks to count—those with rifles pointed at the entrance to the bank, waiting for an opportunity to strike; some standing by the cars in case a chase ensued; and those walking the perimeter of the barricades to keep order among those who gathered behind them, radios letting out bursts of static noise followed by rapid bursts of speech that were incomprehensible from this distance. One of the Gold Cloaks had a bullhorn that he was using to encourage people to leave the area for their own safety.

Much good that would do. Behind those barricades was the usual throng of people—the curious with their cell phones out, streaming live on social media; journalists from every form of mainstream media, with their microphones and cameras; and a few slightly annoyed people who were just trying to figure out how to get to their destination now that the direct route was blocked and would be for some time to come. They formed a cacophony of noise and body heat that Brienne would just as soon avoid, but she wasn’t sure there was any way to do it from where she stood.

Rather than alert whoever was inside to her presence, she took refuge in an alley about a block away from the action and considered her options. She was somewhat familiar with the First Iron Bank of King’s Landing as she had both her checking and savings accounts there, but the customer lobby wasn’t where the Kraken and his minions were. They’d be in the back. She needed to know the layout of the bank, and there was no time.

She tapped her watch to bring up the email program and sent a quick message to Selmy. _On scene. Update?_

His response was fast. **The Kraken Gang found an old bolt-hole underneath the building across from the bank and used it to get under the bank and drill a hole in the floor outside the vault. Not sure if they meant to drill there or if they thought they’d be under the vault itself. However, they weren’t as prepared for the infrared beams, which triggered the silent alarm as soon as the first one was through the opening. Gold Cloaks responded. Two were shot but they should recover. Third one currently as hostage. We’ve got eyes in the room—they scrambled the visible security cameras, but you know Iron Bank. They have backups for their backups. We’re tapped into their feed now.**

_How close are they to being done and getting out?_

**Not sure. We’ve got the bolt-hole blocked off now, but if The Kraken is with them, and we suspect he is, who knows what they might be able to do to escape. You’ve heard of the one Kraken who was able to control the wind.**

_Of course. Where’s the bolt-hole?_

**Peckledon Building.**

The Peckledon Building. Brienne glanced out from her hiding place and found luck on her side for a change—she was on the same side of the street as the building. She could circle around the block and come in from the back, and the growing crowd of people—and The Kraken—would be none the wiser.

_Let your men know I’m coming in._

She didn’t wait for confirmation from Selmy before she took off.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne had always had a great working relationship with the Kingsguard, as had her father before her. Most of the members were respectful (there was the occasional jerk, but that was true in any organization), the lines of communication were excellent, and Brienne was confident that their Lord Commander, Barristan Selmy, was one of the finest men who had ever lived. He was diligent, thorough, and had foiled at least two assassination attempts on the current Prime Minister and had nearly died of a knife wound sustained protecting the former king, Brandon IX Stark. Brienne always felt reassured that when Selmy was in charge of a situation, she would know the most that could be known about what she was getting into.

Brienne wished her relationship with the Gold Cloaks was as good as that, but Gold Cloaks were different. Not to say that she didn’t have a good working relationship with them, but she didn’t feel as in sync with their some of their leaders as she was with Selmy and the Kingsguard. Unfortunately for her, one of those leaders was in charge of this operation.

Commander Janos Slynt was the sort who was fine with someone else doing the dirty work associated with clearing the streets of crime but wanted to take the glory himself. He hated that he had to share the spotlight with The Evenstar and had accused _her_ of being the one to swoop in at the last second to take the kudos. Brienne didn’t deny that there was a small kernel of truth in this accusation because the Gold Cloaks had the advantage of being first on scene when a crime occurred. What Slynt conveniently forgot was that Brienne was capable of doing things his entire squad couldn’t do.

Slynt had special reason to hate her, though. Brienne had been on the trail of a nasty piece of work named The Flayer. She’d heard rumors that he had someone on the inside of the Gold Cloaks in his pocket, but everyone was reluctant to talk. Lord Commander Selmy had gotten tipped off about a possible drug deal going down in Flea Bottom that was connected to The Flayer. Brienne hadn’t found The Flayer, but she had nabbed two of Slynt’s lieutenants. Slynt had tried to put word out that his men had been working undercover and that instead of rooting out corruption, The Evenstar had interfered with the Gold Cloaks doing their sworn duties, but there had been too much evidence against the lieutenants. The ensuing scandal had nearly cost the Commander his position, and only the Robert Baratheon’s slick-talking Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish, had prevented it.

Brienne couldn’t prove that Slynt was involved in the drug trade, not yet. If her hacking skills were better, she might have taken a crack at it, but there had been a reason she’d gotten a degree in literature instead of computer sciences. She knew the day was going to come when she had to deal with him. She’d heard that Slynt had sworn that he was going face The Evenstar one-on-one and then they’d see who the real superhero was. Brienne doubted he’d ever have the balls to take her on by himself, so on the list of things she worried about, Slynt taking her on in a fight was pretty low.

In the meantime, she endured his glares and snide comments and went about doing what she had to do to keep King’s Landing safe.

Brienne stepped into the Peckeldon Building, started at the contrast between the intensified noise of the streets and the relative quiet of the soundproofed building. The occasional siren or shouted pronouncement from a bullhorn could be heard, but the majority of the background noise was gone. She approached the front desk, where Slynt and five other Gold Cloaks were congregated.

“We have the situation well in hand,” Slynt hissed when he caught sight of her. “We don’t need no dumb fucker in a silly costume—”

Brienne focused her attention of the least offensive member of Slynt’s division, who was manning a laptop that she figured was showing the video feed from the bank. She didn’t think Jacelyn Bywater liked her much better than Slynt did, but she was relatively sure he wasn’t dirty. “I was told we have eyes,” she said, and as she did so, she was once again momentarily disoriented by the sound of her altered voice. Fifteen years in the Evenstar suit with the tiny wearable gizmo at the base of her throat that made her sound more masculine and she _still_ struggled with it the first time she spoke. “How close is The Kraken to being done in there?”

Bywater glanced at Slynt, who glared at him, then motioned for Brienne to come around the desk to look for herself.

“Looks like they’re going for the biggest possible score. We’re only looking at the feeds from cameras where they’re at,” Bywater explained. “There were seven of them to start with. Allar Deem got one of them before he took a bullet in the shoulder, so we’re looking at six.”

“Who was the other officer shot?” Brienne asked.

“Manly Stokeworth.” A pall suddenly came over the assembled group. “Gut shot. We got word twenty minutes ago that he died on the operating table.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” And she meant it. Manly had been demoted in the aftermath of the botched Flayer drug deal, but she’d always thought that was because he’d been partners with one of the disgraced lieutenants and not because he was guilty of anything himself.

“One of our own is gone,” Slynt growled. “We should be storming in there to take the rest of those motherfuckers out, but are we? No, because his high-and-mightiness Barristan Selmy thinks it’s better to send in some stupid—”

“Lord Commander Selmy was thinking of the likelihood that The Kraken is in there. We don’t know what powers this Kraken might have, and even if we knew, I stand a better chance of surviving than you do.” Brienne stared at the screen with the images from the three rooms, watching each one closely to pick up what she could. Two men were working on getting through the lock on the vault, two were patrolling the area in front, two more in the back. “Which one do you think he is?”

Bywater tapped one of the squares, which grew in size to fill the screen. “Him,” he said, pointing to one of the two figures pictured. “Word has it that previous Krakens silenced their victims somehow. That guy’s the only one we’ve caught talking on camera, and we’re watching close.”

“Do we have ears?”

Bywater shook his head. “I’m sure the Iron Bank will correct that before there’s another robbery attempt.”

She looked closer at the possible Kraken with a small frown. The man was tall and burly, and although the cameras were black and white, she could tell that his hair was fair. Greyjoys tended to be of average height, lean, with dark hair and eyes. Although she wouldn’t rule him out, she didn’t think it likely that he was The Kraken.

“Dammit,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?” Bywater asked.

“Nothing.” No point in sharing her conjecture. Slynt would take that as a sign that he could go ahead and bulldoze through the rest of the gang, and then any chance they’d have of gaining information on The Kraken would be lost. “Selmy said one of yours is in there?”

“Yeah, young kid, just joined up. Podrick Payne. Trussed him up like a turkey and left him in the corner. Okay to go back to overall view?” At Brienne’s nod, Bywater touched the screen again and the rest of the pictures returned.

Brienne turned back to Slynt. “Where are the bank’s schematics?” she asked. He gave her a cold look and made no move. “You’ve got a man in there. Alive for now, but who’s to say The Kraken won’t kill him on his way out of the bank? Krakens are known to do things like that for kicks. The longer we stand here having a pissing contest, the less his chances are of living.” Unspoken was that everyone would know who was to blame.

Slynt nodded at Bywater again, who rapidly typed something on the keyboard to bring up blueprints. She scanned them quickly. “Funny how that tunnel was never noticed when they were building the place,” she said. “Iron Bank’s usually more on top of things than this.”

Brienne took stock of the situation. The gang would have to figure out a way out of there without going through the hole they’d drilled to get in, as Slynt’s men hadn’t been discreet by leaving their vehicles in front of the Peckledon Building. They had three options: use Officer Payne for leverage and negotiate, blast their way out, or rely on help from the outside from The Kraken. Which meant the longer she spent dithering about what she was going to do, the greater the probably of option three. Hells, she wouldn’t be surprised if The Kraken was here already.

So, what were her options? If she went through the bolt-hole herself, she’d only be facing the two who were trying to get into the vault, only one of whom was armed. She could no doubt take them easily, but the room was small and Brienne worried that she would get boxed in and be easy pickings for the others who would come running. Plus, she’d be placing Officer Payne at risk. She could try doing something from the front or back, but it was risky. Trying to come in the back way would be safer as there were no windows, but if she were The Kraken, that’s where she’d be lying in wait for anyone to come along.

“What if we create a distraction out front? Something not obvious or destructive, but something that would allow me to go in through the bolt-hole and take care of this mess with the least risk to Officer Payne?”

Slynt looked at her with narrowed eyes. “What kind of distraction?”

Brienne hesitated. “Something that will create a loud noise and flash—enough to get the attention of the ones out front and possibly the ones in back. I doubt it’ll distract the two working on the vault, but it’ll give me a better chance to get Officer Payne to safety before the others figure out what’s going on and come for him.”

“Commander, looks like they’re about to break through the lock,” Bywater announced.

“Getting something here will take time,” Slynt started to say.

“Don’t give me that shit. I know you have equipment in your vehicles that’s technically illegal, but you use anyway with a little wink from government. Surely you’ve got something that’ll work here. Your man is in there. We need it to save him.”

It felt like Slynt took ten years to come to a decision. “Redwyne!” One of the men snapped to attention. “Get the stun grenades.” When Redwyne disappeared, Slynt turned back to Brienne. “This better work, _Evenstar,_ or I’m holding you personally responsible if something happens to that kid.”

“Fair enough. Where’s the entrance to the tunnel on this side?”

Another of the officers showed Brienne to where the Kraken Gang had gone into the tunnel, which was fifteen feet underground. She frowned. They’d left a telescoping ladder here because they’d figured to return and come out this way. Once they’d set off the alarm and the Gold Cloaks had arrived, however, they’d likely pulled up the ladder on the other side. She’d have to carry the ladder with her—not a huge deal, but an impediment nevertheless, especially as she’d also be carrying a flashlight to see.

She waited until Redwyne returned with the grenades, then said, “Bywater, let them know when you see me appear on screen in the room next to the vault, then set off the first of the grenades. That should be enough time.”

“Shouldn’t we set them off now?” Redwyne asked.

“If we do that, they’ll kill Payne immediately,” Slynt said snidely. “The boy may be a plodding idiot, but he’s one of us. We don’t do something that’ll get him killed. Get going, Evenstar.”

Brienne climbed halfway down the ladder before she leaped the rest of the way. She felt a slight sting in her shins which she knew she’d pay for later. She grabbed the ladder and collapsed it. Turning on the flashlight against the dead black of the tunnel, she was rewarded with a weak light. _Slynt, you asshole,_ she thought, but set it aside. Now wasn’t the time for her to indulge in petty grievances even if Slynt didn’t agree. The light would be enough to get her through.

Brienne hurried as fast as she could, praying this tunnel wouldn’t have a fork at some point to confuse her. She knew many of the old tunnels, corridors, and byways did for just that purpose. Thankfully, she had a clear shot from one building to the other.

She saw the light from the drilled hole underneath the bank. As expected, they’d pulled up whatever they’d used to climb into the bank. She turned off her flashlight and stopped a few feet away from the hole, listening. She heard nothing but an occasional grunt. Officer Payne, no doubt. Brienne didn’t want to go up there blind, but she couldn’t wait much longer. She didn’t entirely trust Slynt and his men not to set off the stun grenades in a fit of impatience.

She moved directly under the hole, hoping she might be able to see something. All she saw was the ceiling. No choice for it except to hope that the two working on the vault door were so wrapped up in what they were doing that they wouldn’t pay attention to the hole in the floor. She extended the ladder to its fullest length, then set it in place. She waited a full minute to see if they’d notice it before she started to climb.

She was two-thirds of the way up the ladder when she heard what sounded like something hitting the wall. She stopped and looked up. She could see a bit more now, but not enough to see the entire room. There was another thump, then another and another.

_They’re gotten through the lock. That has to be it._

Then she heard what sounded like a foot connecting with something soft, and a muffled howl of pain. It took her mere seconds to realize what it had to be. Officer Payne must have seen the ladder and was creating a distraction.

Well, far be it for her not to take advantage. She scrambled up the rest of the ladder to find that she’d been right—one of the two men who had been working on the vault door had come over to shut Payne up, while the other one focused the torch he was using to melt down the door’s lock.

Brienne moved toward the man attacking Payne and aimed a kick at the small of his back, careful not to crush his spine. Just as her foot connected, she heard a loud explosion coming from the front of the bank and knew Slynt had done his part. The man fell forward, screaming in agony but not saying a word. Using telekinesis, she snatched the large gun he’d dropped when she’d kicked him and sent it out the hole in the floor. She picked him up and threw him against the opposite wall. From the heavy thud of his head, she knew he had to be unconscious.

She turned her attention to the other man, who had turned to face her with horror. She made a move toward him and he backed into the opposite corner her, hands raised in fear.

Brienne said, “Sorry about this, kid,” before she picked Officer Payne up telekinetically and floated him over to the hole. His eyes were so wide they looked like they took up half his face, but he showed no fear as he moved through the air.

She heard the thundering of footsteps from both directions. _Dammit._ The distraction hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped. She reached out with her mind and hurriedly untied the ropes around Payne’s feet, knowing he could run with his hands bound. Brienne heard an “oof” from the direction of the hole, meaning he’d had a harder landing than she’d intended him to have, but he was clear of the action now.

And then Brienne had no more time to think. She was in a room with one unconscious man, one coward, and four men with guns that rivaled the one she’d just chucked down a fifteen-foot hole.

Brienne’s suit, despite seeming flimsy, was made of bulletproof material; however, that didn’t mean bullets didn’t hurt like seven hells when they hit her. Although she was telekinetic, she didn’t have enough pinpoint control over her power to stop bullets because of the speed at which they traveled. And her suit didn’t cover everything. A shot to one of her hands would be bad, and to her face…well, that would be game over.

She didn’t give them the chance to react. She moved with quick efficiency and slammed her fist into the face of the first man who entered, then aimed a roundhouse kick at the next. The third man managed to grab hold of her cape and attempted to lasso her into a chokehold; however, she telekinetically undid the clasp and left the man holding nothing but the cape. A few seconds later, she’d spun around and punched him hard twice in the jaw. As he dropped, the man she’d kicked got up and landed a punch to her face. She felt blood gush from her nose but ignored it, launching all of her weight at him. The force of her strength put several cracks in the wall and knocked him out cold. She’d just stepped back when the first shots rang out—the fourth man, the one who the Gold Cloaks had thought was The Kraken, had opened fire.

The bullets smacked into the suit and bounced off, but the impact was enough to drop Brienne to the floor, wincing. The man had to stop and reload, and that was when she made her move. She ignored the pain in her back and dove forward, into his legs, knocking him sideways. The gun went flying out of his hand and she reached out with her mind to send it skittering toward the open hole in the floor. The blond man kicked at her chest, and although it hurt, it didn’t move her much. She almost smiled at the shock on his face—right before she plowed her fist into his face three times.

And finally, it was Brienne and the coward. She made a motion toward him and he curled into himself, whimpering. Her eyes made a quick sweep of the room. Five men in various states of consciousness and pain, and one coward. Not bad for…she checked her watch…seven minutes’ work.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne was fading fast. She’d taken a couple of hard hits, her back was going to be sore as hell tomorrow, and she already had the makings of a brutal headache, likely the result of the delicate task of untying knots with her mind because she could move heavy boulders all day long with no problems, but something smaller left her in agony. But she’d be damned if she gave Janos Slynt the satisfaction of watching her collapse.

The members of the Kraken Gang had been rounded up and shipped off to the Black Cells for questioning, although it was going to be very difficult to get information.

Other than the leader, all of them had had their tongues removed.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t get information other ways,” Slynt muttered when he’d been told.

_Will those ways be legal or illegal?_ Brienne wondered. Despite the fact that they were associating with a villain, Brienne knew there were lines that should never be crossed. She wasn’t going to waste time debating this with Slynt, however.

She went over to the young officer—Payne—and said, “You okay? You didn’t get too banged up on the drop into the tunnel?”

He shook his head. “My as—er, my backside will be sore tomorrow, but I’m okay. The kicks that guy gave me were worse. But I guess you got him good.”

Brienne almost smiled at the hero worship she saw in his eyes. She nodded. “I did. Thank you for providing the distraction to get me in there unnoticed.”

“I-I couldn’t be sure who was coming through the hole, but I figured it had to be one of the good guys. And it was.” His mouth was bloody, one of his teeth was broken and another was missing, but his smile was radiant. “Thank you for saving me.”

“It’s what I do,” she said, and now she did smile. “What’s your name?”

“P-Podrick, sir. Podrick Payne.”

“You did good in a crisis, Podrick Payne. Something tells me you’re going to go far with the Gold Cloaks.” _If Slynt doesn’t warp you first._

Podrick leaned his head closer to hers. “Someday I hope to be admitted into the Kingsguard,” he whispered.

“Better not let Slynt hear you say that,” she replied in a low voice just as there was a loud shout. Brienne’s head whipped up to see what was going on, fearing the worst.

“Godsdammit!” Slynt yelled, throwing his phone.

“What happened?” Brienne asked.

It was a sign of how angered Slynt was that he didn’t glare at her as he typically did when she asked him a question. “Someone just blew up the van transporting the gang to the Black Cells. They’re all dead.”

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne didn’t get home until nearly two a.m. Despite being ready to drop on her feet, she managed to strip off her damaged suit and hop into the shower for a few minutes. When she came out, she stared at herself in the mirror. The nose was fortunately not broken, although since she’d broken it twice already, another one hardly would’ve been noticed. She plastered it with the concoction some enterprising family member had invented eons ago to bring down the swelling. Between the ointment and her body’s natural ability to heal itself, her injury likely wouldn’t be noticeable by the time she went to Margaery’s brunch on Sunday.

The night air was still chilly despite it being April. Brienne put on a pair of flannel pajamas with suns and crescent moons then practically fell into bed.

She’d gone to the scene of the bombing in person to see if there were any clues to be found. There weren’t, of course. The bomb had been on a timer and primed to go off around ten minutes after the car was put in gear. Slynt had said over and over again, “I don’t see how he could’ve done it. We had all the vehicles out front, we were keeping watch on everything. _How the fuck did this happen?_ ”

The obvious answer was that it had been The Kraken. And if so, it meant that this one had a set of tricks unseen in previous versions.

Brienne fell into a difficult, trouble sleep where she had dreams of being chased by a phantom man with dark hair, an eye patch, and a mad gleam in his remaining eye, his high-pitched laughter ringing in her ears.

~*~*~*~*~*

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Brienne didn’t know who was pounding on her door at…she glanced at her clock…yikes, eleven-thirty in the morning, but she was going to kill them. Her head pounded, a clear indication that the combination of two Dornish Stingers and expenditures of telekinetic energy did not mix.

She eased herself out of bed and slowly made her way down the hall and toward the front door. When the person knocked again just as she reached it, Brienne debated whether they would qualify as a villain so she would be justified in breaking their hand. She tried to turn the knob, cursed under her breath when she realized that it was locked, and fumbled with the lock.

Jaime stood on the other side with a brown takeout bag in his arms. He looked so golden and beautiful standing there that it hurt to look at him, although that might have been due to the brightness of the sun searing into her pained retinas.

“Uh, hi,” Brienne said, raising a hand to her eyes to ward off the glare. “What are you doing here?”

Jaime looked hurt. “Sansa told me you weren’t feeling well last night. You’re my friend, so here I am with comfort food to help you feel better.” He hefted the bag of food slightly. “She was right. You look terrible.”

“Gee, thanks,” Brienne said. She moved out of the way so Jaime could enter, closing the door quickly behind him. He headed straight for her small dining room. “What did you bring?”

Jaime set the bag on her table and pulled out a large plastic container. “Chicken noodle soup from Crossroads Inn.” He set it down and pulled out a foil-wrapped package. “Fresh yeast rolls from Becca’s. I made sure they included extra butter.” He reached into the bag one last time and pulled out another foil-wrapped package. “And if you’re feeling well enough to eat them, Becca’s brownies.” He frowned. “You look like you’re about to keel over. Go sit in the living room and I’ll bring you lunch.”

“Okay,” she said meekly, blinking back tears. It was silly of her to get emotional about this. He’d said it himself—this was the sort of thing a friend would do. Hells, she’d done it herself when he’d had a nasty bout with that strain of Essosi flu that went around last year.

But she had to admit, it felt nice.

Brienne’s living room was neat, tidy, and austere. Her bookshelves were crammed full but organized with ruthless efficiency. Her recliner, oversized club chair, and couch were a peaceful heather blue and placed around the room so that anyone sitting in them would have a good view of the television. The rug on the hardwood floor closely matched the furniture and had been one of the few things she’d inherited from her mother. The only picture she had on the walls was one of her family taken a year before her mother’s death, which hung above the television.

As she usually did, Brienne chose to sit in her recliner. She pulled the lever to pull up the footrest, leaned back, and listened to Jaime rustle around in her kitchen. She closed her eyes and thought about how nice it would be to have someone around all the time, taking care of her after a night spent fighting crime. That would require her to tell someone the truth about the Evenstar, though, and she’d never felt that level of trust with anyone.

Brienne had once asked her father about when he’d known he could trust her mother with his secret. Selwyn had grown very quiet and then admitted, “I never told her. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust her, sweetling, because I trusted her with everything but that one truth. It was because I was terrified of what might happen if she knew.”

“Then why did you marry her if you didn’t think you could trust her with that?”

“Because...” Selwyn sighed. “Because I loved her, and I wanted to be with her.”

Part of Brienne’s heart broke when he told her, because she’d always believed that if she ever found someone she loved, she would finally have someone to share the most secret part of her life with. She wouldn’t be alone anymore. She’d thought her father had that with her mother, but he hadn’t. She bit back the question she wanted to ask: “How can you say you loved her if you couldn’t trust her with everything?”

“Brienne?”

Brienne realized she’d started drifting off again. She opened her eyes and looked up at Jaime, who held a tray in his hands containing the promised lunch along with a glass of ice water.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to…”

Jaime set the tray in her lap with a shake of his head. “No need to apologize. Just enjoy.” He walked back toward her kitchen and returned a minute later with a tray of his own. As usual, he sat on the couch, where he would sprawl out once he’d finished lunch.

They ate in companionable silence, Jaime not even asking to turn on the television. With each spoonful of the rich, hearty soup she ate, Brienne felt better. She even managed to polish off one of Becca’s famous brownies. When she was finished, Jaime took her tray back to the kitchen and placed the dishes in her dishwasher before he returned.

“I bet this isn’t how you thought you’d start off your sabbatical,” she said. “Playing nursemaid instead of diving right into research about your favorite superheroes.”

“Aah, I did enough of that last night after the party.” Jaime resumed his spot on the couch and reached for the television remote. He turned it on and pulled up the channel guide.

Brienne looked over at him. “Are you serious? You went home after the party and started researching?”

Jaime gave her a sly smile. “Let’s just say I was feeling inspired.” He found a baseball game and looked to her for approval. Brienne nodded even though one of the teams featured was the sniveling Twins. “You probably didn’t catch it since you went home before, but there was a robbery at the Iron Bank last night.”

“Oh?” Brienne congratulated herself on how calm her voice sounded.

“Yeah, and guess who showed up?”

“Half the people at the party, thinking if they showed up in mass numbers, they’d scare the bad guys into thinking the real deal showed up to stop them.”

Jaime huffed out a laugh. “That sounds like something Tyrion might’ve suggested if he hadn’t been drunk off his ass, but no. We actually got to see The Evenstar in action. Do you know how rare that is?”

Brienne gasped, “You _what_?”

“The idiots in the gang thought they’d deactivated the security cameras. They didn’t know there’s a backup system in place that’s virtually undetectable, and it caught the whole thing. The Gold Cloaks are griping because the video is evidence, but by the time they tracked down the hackers who got into the system and aired it, it had gone viral. It’s all over the Internet. We were all crowded around the civic center’s bar watching it unfold on screen.” There was something in Jaime’s eyes that Brienne didn’t think she’d ever seen before. “He was amazing. Just amazing. The way he moved with such efficiency, no wasted effort in the way he took care of them. And I guess the reports that he’s telekinetic were right. One of the Gold Cloaks was being used as a hostage, but out of nowhere the guy just started floating in air and then disappeared.” Jaime chuckled. “You have to check it out. It was amazing.”

Brienne’s stomach churned.

_“Rule number four to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn told his daughter, “don’t get caught on camera if you can avoid it. It’s getting harder to do these days but try. Every time you’re taking care of business and there’s a camera nearby, you’re giving all the villains a look at how you fight, not just the one you’re facing at the time. As you’re learning about them, they’re learning about you, and the less they have to go on, the better.”_

“I think I got the highlights,” Brienne said. She swallowed hard—she would _not_ get sick about this. Her father had been right about it getting hard to avoid cameras anymore, but she’d done a pretty good job of it to this point. “I guess the party ended not long after I left.”

“I’m sure the party went on without me for quite a while, but I went home right after The Evenstar finished off the last of those goons.” Jaime set the remote on the table between the recliner and the couch, then snuggled into the cushions.

Brienne couldn’t focus on the game. All the relief she’d felt last night about The Kraken not being at the bank was gone. He hadn’t needed to be there to see what she could do, and now she felt exposed for the world to see. “Did the hackers say why they’d done it?” she asked.

Jaime turned to raise himself up on one elbow and looked at her oddly. “No, I’m sure they’re not any different than the rest of the hackers out there who do things to get attention and make a name for themselves. Why are you so concerned about this?”

“I’m not,” she said quickly, kicking herself for asking in the first place. Especially since she could ask Selmy, who would be interrogating the hackers.

He grinned. “Is it possible that you have a teeny-weeny little crush on our local superhero?”

Brienne laughed heartily and loud. She laughed so long that Jaime looked a bit concerned. When she finally stopped laughing, she caught her breath and said, “I needed that. Trust me, Jaime, I don’t have a crush on The Evenstar. It was a silly question.”

“Uh-huh.” He turned his attention back to the ballgame. “I suppose next you’ll ask me what I learned in my research last night.”

Jaime made that seem just intriguing enough that Brienne wanted to ask him; however, she knew he’d take that as a sign that his ridiculous notion was right and tease her mercilessly. “I’ll wait for the book.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw the disgruntled look on his face. She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”

Jaime sat up and leaned toward her as though someone else was in the room and he didn’t want them to hear. “Based on early research, I’m certain The Evenstar isn’t immortal. Remember when I told you that reports of how The Evenstar’s powers change about once a generation?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Most of the time, those powers vary between three abilities—speed, strength, and telekinesis. Common enough abilities that it’s easy to chalk up conflicting reports to witness error. Then about sixty years ago, there was an Evenstar who had an unusual ability. They said at full power, his body could emit a light so bright that anyone close to him was incinerated in seconds. Half-power could leave a person severely burned. Partial power was pretty bad, but not dangerous.”

_Great-Grandpa Edwyn said he learned quickly not to piss off Great-Grandma Alysanne,_ Brienne thought.

“What happened to that Evenstar isn’t clear,” Jaime continued. “He tracked down his archnemesis, The Maester, to a library. Five minutes later, the building exploded. Every government agency was brought in to investigate, and all they found was the outline of two bodies on the floor. Nothing was found to indicate that something natural or deliberate destroyed that building. The Evenstar wasn’t seen again for five years, and his powers were different when he returned. Something similar happened about fifteen years ago when that Evenstar, who apparently had pyrokinesis, battled The Bloody Mummer. Although the only one of the Bloody Mummer’s goons to survive that battle insisted that The Evenstar survived, when he turned up to face the next villain, he had different powers again.”

Brienne remembered how fast her grandfather and great-grandfather had moved to get Selwyn to a secured location for treatment after his powers had raged out of control and nearly killed him. She remembered praying to the gods to save her father, and her relief when those prayers were answered.

And she remembered the heart-clenching terror she’d felt when the call for The Evenstar had come two months later and she’d realized that she would have to answer it.

“All that’s great, but what I’m hearing is that you’re digging into finding out who they are and not just trying to connect them with an old noble family,” Brienne said cautiously.

He shrugged. “He’s fascinating. He’s…you didn’t _see_ him last night, Brienne. The way he moved was…you remember last night when you described Arya Stark as being able to dance on water? That’s kind of how The Evenstar fought. He was mesmerizing.”

“What are you saying, Jaime?” she asked, the words almost choking her.

Jaime’s eyes blazed with a green light that could’ve rivaled wildfire. “I want to know who he is. I don’t care about the others—well, I think it would be interesting to know who the Three-Eyed Crow is because I’m pretty sure he _is_ immortal. But I just feel this, I don’t know, _compulsion_ to know The Evenstar. Not just the superhero, but the man beneath.”

_What if you found out who the_ woman _beneath the superhero was?_ Brienne wondered. _Would you still be so fascinated to find out that it’s just me?_

“How do you think you’re going to find this out?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I think I can do it. Look at what I figured out in just one night. There have to be more clues out there that no one’s bothered to put together. I just have to find them.”

“You said you weren’t going to do this,” Brienne said, her voice husky with unshed tears. “I believed you when you said you weren’t going to put yourself at risk with this project.”

He gave her what she was sure he thought was a reassuring look. “I will take every precaution I possibly can. I’ve picked up a few things from Tyrion about how to protect my identity online, and I’m hardly going to broadcast what I learn.”

“What if The Evenstar doesn’t want you prying into her private life and risking the exposure of her identity? What gives you the right to do that just because you have a _crush_?” Brienne shouted.

Jaime bolted up from the couch. “The only thing I’ll put in my book about The Evenstar is what noble family he’s most likely aligned with. The rest is for me and me alone.”

Brienne put the footrest down on the recliner and stood up on legs that felt hollow. “You’re avoiding my question. You always do that when you know you’re in the wrong, but you want to convince yourself otherwise.”

“Here we go, the usual ‘why Brienne is always right and Jaime’s always wrong’ song. I know you’ve had doubts all along about my project even after you told me you were fine with it, though why I should give a damn what you think about it is beyond me since it will have no impact on you!”

_“Rule number five to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn said, “never let a villain goad you into losing your temper and making a mistake. They’ll do that, you know. It makes their job easier if you’re the one who messes up. Don’t rise to the bait.”_

Brienne suspected that if her father had ever met Jaime Lannister, he’d make an exception to that rule. She held on to her temper by a razor’s edge, and even then, she knew if he said anything else to her, she’d explode.

“I guess there’s nothing more to say, is there?” Brienne refused to let him see her cry because she didn’t want to give him a reason to question again why she was so upset.

“I guess not,” Jaime said. He gave her one final furious look and left the room.

She almost managed not to cry before he slammed her front door on his way out.


	4. Part IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part IV: In which Brienne has her first encounter with The Kraken, and considers sending Jaime to Sothoryos. She really doesn't think that would be good for his health, though.

Brienne spent the rest of Saturday in bed, alternating between crying and wanting to throw things. She settled for crying because it exerted less physical energy. However, the next morning she somehow felt worse than she had the day before. Much though she didn’t want to do it, because she didn’t want Jaime to think he had any effect on her whatsoever, she called Margaery and told her she wasn’t going to make it to her brunch.

“Good gods, B, maybe you should go to the hospital,” Margaery said. “You never get sick, not like this.”

_What prescription would a doctor give to someone whose best friend is about to blow the lid off her deepest secret because he’s obsessed with finding out who she is?_

“I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow,” she replied. “And I’ll catch up with everyone next week, I promise.”

Dear gods, she’d have to face Jaime next week, and every week for who knows how long, at Margaery’s Sunday brunch. Maybe she could come up with an anonymous tip that would send him to Sothoryos on a wild goose chase. Okay, fine, not Sothoryos. She didn’t want to kill him. But she could definitely come up with a clue that would send him someplace less deadly, like Meereen.

Brienne treated herself on this rare day of solitude by indulging in her favorite things: a long hot bath, a good book, and then ordering delivery of chicken noodle soup from Crossroads Inn. She tried to ignore the fact that everything she did had an association to Jaime—her bubble bath had been a gift from him, the book one of his recommendations, and her soup was what he’d brought her yesterday.

Brienne ate her soup and watched a wildly inaccurate television drama set during the War of the Five Kings, trying not to think about how much fun she and Jaime had had mocking the stupidity of it during its previous season. He’d pointed out how ridiculous the battle sequences were because none of the actors wore helms, as they would in real battle. She’d pointed out the lack of cohesiveness of the storytelling, pointing out that a character who’d killed his king to prevent the use of wildfire wasn’t going to sit idly by and be fine with another monarch using it, even if she was his sister.

“Dammit,” she mumbled as she set her soup bowl aside. She reclined on the couch and tried not to think of Jaime sprawled out on it the day before.

Maybe she’d overreacted a bit to his news that he wanted to find out who The Evenstar was. It’s not like he was the first person who’d announced that intention, and unless something happened and her identity did get out, he wouldn’t be the last. Unless she told him the truth, he wouldn’t understand why she was so upset, and she couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t tell anyone.

Brienne didn’t realize she was crying until the first of her tears dropped into her ear. She rubbed at her cheeks with the back of her hand, furious. She was _not_ wrong, and she was _not_ going to cry over him anymore. Her father had raised her to be strong and independent, able to withstand almost anything. He’d be ashamed to see her like this, hiding from some silly man who had upset her. Brienne got up from the couch, ignored the slight pounding in her head, and decided to go to the gym. She felt better and she could use a good workout.

Forty-five minutes and three broken punching bags later, Strongboar’s owner strongly suggested that she find another way of letting out her aggression.

Brienne opted to run on the treadmill. She’d noticed that her time getting to the bank had been a bit slower than usual, and she couldn’t blame all of it on the alcohol. She set a grueling pace and settled in. Usually on beautiful spring days like this one she’d run on KLU’s campus, enjoying the sunshine. Jaime would be beside her and—

 _No._ She was not going to think about Jaime. She thought way too much about Jaime, that was her problem. Why couldn’t she have a crush on someone unattainable who she _didn’t_ have to see every day? Why had she thought it a good idea to become friends with her unattainable crush?

She knew why—Jaime wouldn’t let her get away from him. She’d never been able to understand why he liked her. She’d asked him one time, and he’d laughed and said something nonsensical about being fascinated by her eyes before giving her the real reason—that he liked the way she always called him out on his bullshit. He said he always thought twice about doing something that might be wrong when she pointed it out to him.

“So does that make me the shoulder angel?” she had asked. “Because I don’t look good in white and I can’t play a harp.”

He’d laughed and promised he would never call her an angel.

Brienne picked up the pace further, feeling her frustration rise again. She’d called him out on his bullshit with this stupid Evenstar chase of his—why wasn’t he listening now? And why did she care? He wasn’t going to find out anything. Although the very first Evenstar had recklessly chosen a name that could be connected easily to his family, it wasn’t like there weren’t plenty of Tarths in the world today. They still had an entire damned island named after them. There was nothing to connect ordinary Brienne Tarth to The Evenstar, and Jaime was a fool if he thought he was going to figure it out from clues that weren’t there. All he was going to do was stir up trouble. If he wanted to go out there and get himself killed, then…then…

Dammit. She was crying again.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne kept herself busy over the next few days. She prepared for the one summer class she was scheduled to teach, one of her favorites on modern continuations of works from the immediate post-Second Long Night era. The class tied in nicely to her research project on the same subject, and she hoped she would have something ready to publish by the end of the summer. She used the free time from not having late office hours to research and work on a new final exam for the class and ignored the hope that rose in her chest every time someone knocked on her door.

She met up with Sansa and Margery for their usual Wednesday girls’ night out. They clearly had heard that something had happened between her and Jaime because they went out of their way to avoid talking about him. (Brienne hoped Margaery’s ribs weren’t too bruised from how often Sansa had elbowed her to shut her up whenever the topic danced close to Jaime.) Brienne was forced into the role of coming up with new conversation topics, which was not her role in this friendship. Conversation was either strained and terse or falsely cheerful and superficial, and the evening ended awkwardly.

Brienne even drifted past the Brandon Stark Building on campus, where the history department was located, thinking that maybe Jaime would be there. Of course, he wasn’t. She debated unlocking his door with telekinesis before realizing that not only would that be a gross invasion of his privacy even if she’d been in his office a thousand times before, but also pathetic beyond description.

In the whole of their friendship, Brienne had never gone this long without talking to Jaime, and she didn’t like it. She’d prepared herself to have less contact with him once his sabbatical started, but not like this. Not complete radio silence from him, which was most unlike Jaime. Jaime had once texted her in the middle of the night because he’d had a weird dream of the two of them naked in a cave with flaming swords.

When Friday noon came and there was no message from Jaime, she started to get concerned. She picked up her phone half a dozen times to send him a text message only to put it down. He was in the wrong and she wasn’t going to cave. If he didn’t want to talk to her, fine.

She still half-expected to see him at the diner when she went in at noon, because that was their usual thing, but he wasn’t there. Pia gave her a puzzled look when after waiting ten minutes to see if he would show, Brienne told her she was ready to order and that no, Jaime wouldn’t be joining her.

“Is he feeling okay?” Pia asked.

Brienne hoped her smile wasn’t as sickly as it felt. “I’m sure he’s fine. His sabbatical started this week, so he’s probably buried in a library surrounded by books and lost track of time. In fact, tell you what—why don’t you put in an order for two of our usual to go, and I’ll see if I can track him down?”

“Sure.” Pia looked hesitant, but she complied with Brienne’s request.

But just as Pia brought out the to-go containers, Brienne’s watch went off with a notification. She looked down at it with her heart in her throat.

_Robbery in progress, Jalabhar’s in Jaehaerys Square Market. Three masked subjects, armed and dangerous. No shots fired. Number of hostages unknown…Kraken Gang strongly suspected but not confirmed…_

Brienne stood up suddenly, threw down two twenties to cover the lunch she would never get to eat, and ran out of the diner, Pia calling her name in alarm.

~*~*~*~*~*

Jaehaerys Square Market was an open-air shopping center not far from the First Iron Bank in the heart of downtown King’s Landing. At this time of day, JSM, as it was commonly called, should be teeming with shoppers basking in the sunlight and hunting for bargains. Instead, most of those shoppers were watching with eager eyes at an empty plaza, because Jalabhar’s, the luxury jewelers, was in the heart of JSM.

Brienne had approached the perimeter the Gold Cloaks had set up across the street from JSM, stopping only to duck behind the dumpster of a nearby alley and put on her mask and hood and take off the trench coat she’d worn over her suit. She mourned briefly the loss of the coat, one of her favorites, but knew the minute she left it behind in this alley and stepped out as The Evenstar that it would be snatched up within minutes because _someone_ would figure out it was hers.

Brienne had chosen her alley well—it wasn’t a dead end, so she was able to come out the other side and not risk someone seeing her pre- and post-disguise. She was spotted within moments of stepping out and heard a number of gasps as she hurried through the crowd, heading straight for the first familiar face she saw—Jacelyn Bywater’s. He saw her coming and nodded hello.

“Evenstar. You’re too late. The robbers got what they came for—probably close to half a million dragons in jewels. Only thing we’ve got left is to talk to the witnesses.”

“Any casualties?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Perps shot their guns into the air, so there’s a couple minor injuries from falling debris but nothing serious.” He looked out at the crowd. “Commander’s pretty hot about this guy. Far as he’s concerned, The Kraken’s 2-for-2 even if they didn’t get the big score at the bank because two of our guys are gone. He’s determined that the Gold Cloaks are going to bring him down and is getting more hostile to outsiders taking a look at what’s going on.”

“In other words, it’s Friday at 12:51 pm,” Brienne said.

Bywater let out a sound that sounded like a laugh. Brienne almost asked him if he agreed with Slynt, but she knew the answer she’d get if she did. Bywater was someone who went with the company line even if, in this case, it was likely to place him in serious peril. He would consider it to be one of the risks he took when he signed up for the job.

“What other outsiders?” she asked instead.

“Selmy’s sniffing around, I hear, which means that the PM’s likely to stick his nose in it, put together a task force, and the Gold Cloaks will get shoved aside so the white knights can tromp around, fuck everything up, and make things worse.” He glanced at her. “At least you’re useful and despite what some think, you’re not a glory hound.”

“Thanks,” she said wryly, although she was a little touched. She didn’t think she’d get even that grudging respect from any of the Gold Cloaks, much less one of Slynt’s men.

“Anytime. I let the commander know you’re on scene, but like I said, there really isn’t much you can do. Doesn’t look like The Kraken was with them again, so we’re double-checking everything to make sure he didn’t place any hidden bombs like he did the other night.” His cool eyes scanned the crowd. “You been able to dig up anything about this guy?”

“Just about previous Krakens,” she replied. “Since this one is too much of a coward to show his face, I’ve got nothing on him.”

A trickle of civilians was coming out of the shopping center, looking different combinations of shocked, dazed, and relieved. Most of them carried shopping bags from other stores in the JSM. Brienne was about to turn her attention away from them until she noticed one in particular—tall, well-built frame, curly golden hair…

 _Jaime_.

She’d been The Evenstar for fifteen years, and this was the first time she’d seen someone she knew as Brienne at a crime scene. She opened her mouth to call out to him before she remembered where and who she was.

“See someone you know?”

Dammit. Bywater was too observant by half. “No,” she started to say when there was a sudden violent burst of wind that knocked everyone except Brienne off their feet. The sky darkened. Brienne looked up instinctively, and there he was.

The Kraken looked much as he had in her dreams—tall, thin, dark haired, eyepatch covering one eye, the other one black as midnight. He wore a zipped-up black leather jacket with black denim jeans tucked into heavy black boots. It looked as though he were floating on an invisible wave coming toward shore. The wind died when his boots touched down on the ground, bringing him to stand between her and the group of people who had emerged from the JSM.

“Well, well, if it isn’t The Evenstar,” he said, giving her a thorough up-and-down look.

Brienne rolled her eyes even though she knew she shouldn’t. “Jeez, can’t you villains ever come up with something unique? Or do something besides state the obvious?”

The Kraken’s smile was as cold as the wind he had summoned. “Oh, I can do a lot more than that. Would you prefer I do something like this?”

He turned to the group of civilians and made a motion with his right hand. The wind swirled around the smallest member of the group, lifting her high in the air as she screamed in terror. Brienne telekinetically picked up a bench and sent it his way. The Kraken laughed as he raised his other hand in the air, stopping Brienne’s projectile with seeming ease.

She had a sudden, shocking thought. _He’s stronger than me._ But that couldn’t be right—why hadn’t his windstorm knocked her down if that was the case? She hoped it was because he was putting more effort into blocking her than she was in sending the bench at him. She glanced over at a fire hydrant a few feet away from where he stood. Knowing she would pay for it later, she focused her mind on unscrewing the bolts on the fire hydrant while at the same time keeping watch on the bench, which started moving closer to her.

 _Dammit,_ she thought as she stretched her mind out and sent a hard shove at the bench, losing her control on the hydrant. To her relief, the bench moved significantly closer to The Kraken. The moment she turned her attention back to the hydrant, however, the bench stopped in its path.

The Kraken laughed. She knew what he was thinking—the same thing she had. Perhaps he was, as he appeared to be having little trouble stopping the bench and keeping the woman tumbling around in the air while Brienne struggled to throw a bench at him and open up a fire hydrant. She shouldn’t be surprised. Telekinesis was never her stronger power. It was supposed to be the backup for her strength, not what she used extensively.

 _If only I could get close enough to him,_ she thought. She knew if she tried anything that the woman would be dead.

Brienne sent a quick prayer to the gods that what she was about to do would work. She let go of the bench, which went flying with the force of The Kraken’s wind. At the same time, she shoved all of her telekinetic energy at the hydrant, twisting the bolts free. The water in the hydrant gushed out in full force directly at him.

Caught off guard, The Kraken wasn’t able to stop the water. He stumbled and nearly fell. The wind holding the woman up died abruptly, sending her into freefall. Brienne caught her with her mind and lowered her to the ground while she moved forward to take advantage of The Kraken’s disorientation. _“Run!”_ she screamed at the rest of the group. To most of their credit, they scurried away. Jaime hesitated and she almost screamed again, but then she realized he had stopped to hoist the woman who’d been The Kraken’s plaything onto his back before taking off.

Then she had no more time for thinking about Jaime or anyone but her quarry. She tackled The Kraken to the ground and gave him a punch that would have felled an ordinary person. Hells, it _should_ have done more to stun him, but he laughed that maniacal laugh she knew she’d be hearing in her dreams for weeks to come. She punched him again and again, and even though she felt his cheekbone fracture, he kept laughing. Then Brienne heard a loud whistling wind in her ears as she was pushed off him and across the street. She fell hard on her right shoulder and bit back a shout of pain. Before she could stand again, another blast of wind sent her careening into the side of the building, sending a jolt through her back.

_He’s stronger than me._

A shiver of fear ran down her spine. She took a moment to gather herself, knowing her shoulder was probably dislocated or even broken. Her head pounded worse than it had a week ago. Her back was a mass of agony, but she could move her extremities, so she didn’t think anything was severely damaged. She took three deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart and keep control.

_“Rule number six to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn had told her, “is never to forget that fear cuts deeper than swords. If you allow yourself to be ruled by fear, you’re more likely to make an error and come to serious harm. That doesn’t mean you should be fearless, because that leads to being cocky. Acknowledge your fear, accept it, and push through it.”_

The Kraken’s attention was caught on the crowd standing behind the barricades. He looked as though he were seeking out someone in particular. He walked toward them. Guessing his intention, the Gold Cloaks shouted for people to clear the area. Not that people needed to be asked twice.

“Push through it,” she said through gritted teeth, standing up. She took a few tentative, agonizing steps toward him when the wind suddenly died, and The Kraken was gone.


	5. Part V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part V: In which Brienne realizes what The Kraken is, and winds up taking a Walk of Shame. She really isn't sure which of those is worse.

Once the worst of the chaos was over—the crowd thinned out, the rubberneckers shuffled along, the media ignored, and a secured location reached at the closest Gold Cloaks precinct—Brienne was debriefed not only by Janos Slynt but also Lord Commander Barristan Selmy. She wasn’t surprised to see Selmy there, given what Bywater had told her before everything had gone to one of the seven hells.

“I don’t get it,” Slynt said after she’d completed her recitation. “He had you right where he wanted you, but he did nothing?”

Brienne was in too much pain to show him the contempt that comment deserved. Probably for the best. As she thought about the whole incident, she wondered if she’d exacerbated it by mocking The Kraken when he’d first arrived. She didn’t think so, but perhaps that poor woman’s life wouldn’t have been at risk if she hadn’t tried to initiate him in conversation. She’d violated about half of her father’s rules today and now was paying the price for it.

“I would hardly call The Evenstar’s current physical condition _nothing._ He was nearly killed,” Selmy snapped. He looked at her with concern. “I wish you’d let me call someone in to examine you. At the very least, you’re concussed, and you probably have at least one broken bone.”

“The Kraken didn’t want to kill me. Not now,” she replied in a tired voice, dodging Selmy’s suggestion. “He’ll try eventually, of course. But today was a show of his strength. He’d seen me in action against ordinary people no thanks to those damned hackers. He wanted to see how I’d do against him.”

“Guess he got his answer, didn’t he?” Slynt couldn’t keep a note of triumph out of his voice. “Strength’s not worth much of anything against whatever it is he can do.

Selmy growled something at him, but Brienne lost focus. Brienne had had a little time to consider this. She’d fought against other villains who had various bags of tricks over the years. She’d even fought another villain who’d matched her in strength, but never had she felt as overpowered as she had today. She’d never faced down one who controlled one of the four elemental forces.

But there was something she remembered from the lessons she’d had in her teens. She would have to confirm with her research, but she was pretty sure she remembered right.

“He’s an Elemental,” she said.

Selmy froze, but Slynt looked confused. “He’s a what?”

“An Elem—he controls the wind,” Brienne said. “When he’s out in his element, he’s pretty much one of the most powerful forces on earth. Yes, Slynt, even more powerful than me.”

“You’re certain?” Selmy asked.

“We knew there was a possibility from past history.” Brienne’s head was throbbing in time with her heartbeat now as she tried to recall everything she knew about that previous Kraken. “I’m amazed I lasted as long as I did.”

“A credit to how powerful _you_ are, Evenstar.” Selmy gave Slynt a pointed, nasty look.

“Then how in the seven hells do we stop him?” Brienne had never heard any sort of panic in Slynt’s voice before now. She didn’t blame him. She knew how he felt.

Brienne thought there was something in her reading, something she was forgetting…but she was in too much pain to remember.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But we have to find a way. I don’t know exactly what this Kraken wants, aside from the obvious. He’s clearly after money, but is it because he just wants money? As an Elemental, he doesn’t need money to have power. Is it an ego trip? It’s always an ego trip with villains, but who is he looking to one-up, besides me?”

“All right,” Selmy said. “Evenstar, I’ll look again through all the files we have on previous Krakens to see if there’s something more that can be of help. You do the same. Slynt, we need to send out a warning to all the luxury businesses and banks that they’re likely to become targets of The Kraken. They can beef up security, but given what we know now, I don’t know how much good it will do. Your men need to—”

“Hold up there. I may not have ‘lord’ in front of my rank, but I _am_ a commander, same as you. You don’t order me or my men to do nothing. I will take charge of them. You stick to prancing around on horses and try not to shriek in horror at the thought that one day you might have to soil your white cloak on the day-to-day business that we take care of all the time!”

“I am authorized by Prime Minister Baratheon to—”

“This isn’t helping!” Brienne shouted, then wished she hadn’t. She just managed not to put her hands to her head, as though that ever in the history of the world stopped a headache. “Chaos is what The Kraken thrives on. If we’re at each other’s throats, he’ll slip through all our efforts to catch him. You two _know_ this. So please…stop.”

Slynt and Selmy looked askance at each other but both nodded.

“I need to go,” Brienne said, standing up. “I’ll do my part on research and pass along what I know to you. I’ll trust you to do the same. But now I have to go.”

“To a hospital,” Selmy repeated.

She liked Barristan Selmy, but there were times when she wondered how the hells he rose to the rank of Lord Commander. How did he think she was going to be able to go to a hospital without her identity leaking out?

_Maybe that’s the idea. Maybe Selmy’s trying to find out who The Evenstar actually is._

No. He wasn’t the sort who would stab an ally in the back like that. Not Selmy.

“I’ll get checked out,” she told him. Summoning up the last reserves of her strength, Brienne left the room and headed for the exit.

Unfortunately, she was in a quandary. It was late afternoon on a Friday, which meant that most businesses were about to shut down for the day, crowding already busy streets. Her car was four blocks away. She’d abandoned her trench coat in an alley and even if it were there, she wasn’t sure she could remember which alley it was at the moment. She had nothing to disguise her outfit and no money to buy anything with even if she could walk into the closest department store.

_Sometimes I really wish I had someone like Batman’s Alfred. I could use a butler right now._

“Evenstar?”

Brienne looked up and saw the last person in Westeros she wanted to see.

It didn’t help that he was also the person she wanted to see the most.

“Sorry, no autographs,” she said to Jaime as she walked past him. He chuckled and fell into step with her.

“I’m sure you didn’t notice me earlier—I was one of the people in the Jalabhar’s when the Kraken Gang struck. I’m Jaime Lannister.”

“Uh-huh. I saw you carry the woman away. That was nice of you.” Brienne had never been more grateful for whoever had invented the wearable voice disguiser she had at the base of her throat. And the hood that covered her head. And the mask that not only covered her nose but also gave it some contouring to appear unbroken.

“Well, thank you. Hang on a sec.” He raised his voice and said, “Come on, Daven! You lost the bet, you’ve got to do the Walk of Shame!”

_I’ve got a crush on a madman._ “Huh?”

“Listen, you bet on Storm’s End over Lannisport, you take the consequences!” Jaime grabbed a random stranger’s arm. “Excuse me, sir, wouldn’t you agree that a bet is a bet?”

The man pulled his arm away. “Asshole,” he muttered as he walked away.

“Fine, be that way. Ma’am?” Jaime turned the charm on full blast to a random woman. She stopped with a warm smile for him. “Wouldn’t you agree that a person who makes a bet should fulfill the terms of the bet?”

“Of course.”

“Would you mind telling my cousin Daven that? He seems to think he can bet on baseball, lose, and then not pay up.”

Brienne almost cried. She didn’t know what Jaime hoped to accomplish by helping her out, because there was no way she was telling him who she was. But he was here, and helping, and gods, even though it had only been a week since she’d last seen him and she was still pissed as all hells, she _missed_ him.

“I didn’t think you were _serious,_ uh…Jaison,” she said. She noticed the grimace on Jaime’s face and mentally patted herself on the back for the goof. “Dressing up as The Evenstar and walking the streets during rush hour. Who does that?”

“You do because you lost.” He smiled and winked at the woman who’d stopped. “He should consider himself lucky I’m not making him do this walk naked. Making him dress up as The Evenstar was my brother’s idea.”

“I’m sorry, but Jaison’s right. You have to honor the bet,” she said.

“Fine! But if we get stopped by autograph hounds, I’m decking you.” Brienne spun on her heel, her cape swirling behind her, and walked away as quickly as she could. She heard Jaime thank the woman and politely decline an offer of a drink.

He caught up to her easily enough. “Listen, I know you’re going to think I’m nuts, but I want to help you,” he said in a low voice.

“You’re helping enough right now,” she replied. “And thank you.”

“You don’t know me, but I’m a researcher. Actually, I’m a history professor at KLU, but you know that means I’m good at research.”

_I know it all too well._ “Uh-huh. What’s in it for you?”

“Why do I have to have an ulterior motive?”

Brienne stopped walking and glared at him. Even if she didn’t know him and know about his sabbatical project, did he honestly think she was that naïve?

They were attracting attention again.

Jaime must’ve noticed, because he said in a louder voice, “The entire street, Daven! You’re lucky I’m not making you walk all the way to Flea Bottom!"

“Gods, Jaison, why don’t you ring a bell so everyone will know?” she snapped. “Are…are you recording this? Is your brother around somewhere with a camera?”

“I could arrange for that,” he said. “Coming through, people! Coming through! Idiot who lost a bet walking here!”

Brienne tried to pick up the speed, but her body wasn’t getting with the program.

“Look, when I first heard this guy was calling himself The Kraken, I thought the name sounded familiar so I looked him up. I found out a bunch of stuff and called up this guy who wrote this book and—”

“Does this story have a point?” Brienne asked, because if she let him, he’d tell her everything but the point of the story.

“Yeah, it does. If this Kraken is what I think he is, you’re fighting something you’ve never dealt with before,” Jaime said. “We’re talking world domination here.”

“We’re always talking world domination with these assholes. I’ve managed so far.” She refused to acknowledge her fear, not now, not with Jaime. She knew how he worked. If she showed weakness, the next thing she knew, he’d be trying on superhero suits of his own and thinking he could be her sidekick all in the name of research.

“I think he’s an Elemental.”

Brienne would not slow down to ask him how he knew that. If she spent much more time on her feet, she’d collapse. She knew Jaime wouldn’t hesitate to take her to a hospital, and then she’d be screwed. She wasn’t sure how she was going to ditch him before they got to her car.

“Elementals become more unstable over time, their madness growing as their powers do. From the way he laughed every time you hit him, I think he may be close to complete madness. The last time someone went that mad, King’s Landing was in ruins. Neither of the Mad Queens was a superhero—gods, I don’t want to imagine what might’ve happened if they had been—but _he_ could do that without requiring a dragon or wildfire.” Jaime’s voice rose again. “It’s not much farther, Daven! Shame! Shame! Shame on you for betting against your home team!”

“I really hate you right now.”

“Aw, that’s a mean thing to say when you don’t know me. It usually takes people a day or two to decide that they hate me,” Jaime said, and she snorted.

He grinned, but his next words were dead serious. “You need all the help you can get. Now that he’s met you, his attacks will escalate. He will be compelled to seek you out and vanquish you. I don’t know what’s defeated previous Elementals. My source was murky on that part, but I’ve got a few ideas for where I can look next for a solution.”

“I’m not looking for a partner,” Brienne said curtly.

“You looking to get yourself killed? Because even if speed isn’t your superpower, you should have been able to ditch me a long time ago.”

“I can manage,” she muttered and, hoping to lose him, realized they’d reached the alley where she’d ditched her trench coat. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to look, and if she could summon a little strength, she might get the chance to hit one of her best friends.

“Where are you going?” Jaime asked as she ducked into the alley. He put his hand on her right shoulder and despite all her efforts, she cried out in pain and almost crumpled to the ground. Jaime put an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, but her weight caused him to sink to his knees. She closed her eyes, head tilted back, and savored the sensation of Jaime’s strong arms around her, dulled by the suit but nonetheless comforting. She wished she could stay like this forever, except for the part where she was in massive amounts of pain.

He held her for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about thirty seconds. _Thirty seconds of heaven_ , she thought as she pushed away from him and stood up. “I can manage,” she repeated. “I just need to get out of here.” She risked looking at him then and was puzzled by the shocked look on his face. Her left hand came up to check and make sure the damned mask was still on. It was.

“You’re a woman,” he breathed as he stared at her.

Brienne took a step back. How had he figured that out? There was nothing, absolutely _nothing_ , about her appearance in this suit that indicated her sex. What little breasts she had were flattened. She had no feminine curves to speak of. The only part of her that could even be described as lush were her lips, but that was no proof of anything. Hells, there were people who questioned her sex in regular clothes.

Jaime hadn’t phrased that as a question. However he’d figured it out, now he _knew_.

“Fuck,” she whispered, which of course didn’t help things at all. Before Jaime could say anything more, she fled. Had he tried, he could’ve caught up to her easily. Jaime was faster than her even when she wasn’t in massive amounts of pain. She supposed the shock of realizing that his idolized Evenstar was a woman kept him from realizing she was getting away.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne never remembered how she got through the rest of that day, and all things considered, she was grateful. From the three dozen videos uploaded onto the internet, she had apparently started singing “On the Street Where You Live” at the top of her lungs after leaving the alley, so most of the videos were labeled with “crazy Evenstar impersonator” and comments were usually about whether she was available for weddings and special occasions. A couple of videos insisted she was the real thing who was losing her mind. They were dismissed as tinfoil hat theories.

When she reached her car, parked four blocks away from where she’d ditched Jaime, Brienne used the last of her telekinetic ability to unlock her trunk, where she kept her purse. She grabbed her keys and got into the car, tears in her eyes because she’d made it.

She drove to the off campus shed to change. With no one around to hear, Brienne caved into the temptation to cry and scream as her injuries made themselves felt with her slightest movement.

Once she was dressed, she drove out of King’s Landing to a small hospital outside of Rosby. She told them her name was Sansara Tarly and that she’d been in a car accident. The staff looked at her with doubtful eyes but asked no questions as they reset her dislocated shoulder, wrapped up her two cracked ribs, and insisted she be hospitalized for observation overnight because she had a concussion.

Brienne didn’t fight them. By the time all of that was done, all she wanted was to sleep, so she did.

~*~*~*~*~*

The doctors at Rosby didn’t want to release her the next morning, but Brienne insisted. She gave them her post office box number so she could be billed for her overnight stay and headed home. She felt worse than she had last Saturday, and she hadn’t thought that was possible. Not only did she not feel like she could do much of anything physically, she knew without a doubt that she could do nothing telekinetically. She’d burned herself out once before. It had been the first time she’d taken on the mantle of Evenstar. She’d had a vicious headache that had lasted almost three days. For a week afterwards, her telekinetic ability had been at half-strength.

She prayed to the Warrior that she would get another week-long respite from whatever the Kraken had in store for her next, but she knew Jaime was right. The Kraken was going to escalate, and soon.

She had to be ready for him, and she was in no shape to do what needed to be done.

Brienne slept most of the day on Saturday. She woke only long enough to heat up some terrible tomato soup and take a shower. She hoped she would feel well enough the next morning to make Margaery’s Sunday brunch, but when her headache showed no signs of abating and her right shoulder throbbed, she texted to beg off again.

She wasn’t surprised when Sansa turned up on her doorstep half an hour later, lemon cookies in hand.

“Good gods,” Sansa whispered when she saw her. “What ha—never mind, I don’t want to know. Get back in bed.” She brushed past Brienne into the house, set the cookies down, and placed a gentle hand on Brienne’s back to guide her back to her room.

Brienne drifted in and out of sleep. Sometimes she thought she heard voices coming from her living room. Sometimes the television was on. A sharp laugh awakened her once, catapulting her briefly back to Friday afternoon and The Kraken’s demented glee. It took a while to settle down from that. Sansa came in twice to bring her something light to eat and ask if she needed anything.

Brienne thought, _you remind me of your mother,_ and she must’ve said it out loud because Sansa grimaced and said, “I was hoping I wouldn’t hear that for about fifty years, but thanks.”

When she woke up the next morning, her headache had dulled somewhat. Her shoulder wasn’t griping as much, and her back was just a bit stiff. She got out of bed and took a long, hot shower, dressed in her favorite fluffy blue robe, and walked into the living room.

Sansa was stretched out on the couch, just a thin sheet covering her, legs poking out of the bottom. Margaery curled up in the recliner, hugging a quilt around her so tightly she looked like a butterfly in a cocoon. Brienne smiled and wondered why they hadn’t used her guest bedroom. She’d have to tease them about that later.

~*~*~*~*~*

Sansa and Margaery stayed for two more days, until Brienne practically shoved them out the door. Sansa _would_ cluck at her every time she moved a muscle: “You’re going to hurt yourself carrying that empty cereal bowl, let me take it to the kitchen for you.” And Margaery _would_ bring up Jaime every five seconds: “Seems funny that he hasn’t texted you. He usually texts you every time he blinks.”

It was a toss-up which one of them frustrated her more. At least they accepted her story about a car accident, because she really didn’t think she could’ve handled any questions about how she’d acquired her injuries.

Brienne breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone. She had been so tired and then so smothered that she hadn’t had a chance to do any research on The Kraken. Precious time was slipping away from her, time that might cost someone their life. But her hopes of being able to get on her computer right away were dashed when the screen began wobbling on her when she tried to concentrate. She knew she should get in to see her doctor and have further tests, but she couldn’t run the risk. She needed another day off but couldn’t afford it.

She called her father to ask him to help out. Selwyn had asked a couple of days after her fight if she wanted him to come see her, or to take over as The Evenstar for a while so she could recuperate. “Might be a good idea to throw him off just when he thinks he knows what you’re about,” Selwyn said.

Brienne heard the fear underneath his offer, though. They both knew that Selwyn might be capable of returning as The Evenstar physically, but at what risk? Burning himself up—or an innocent crowd of bystanders—with his own powers?

“No,” she said. “No, I can handle this. I just need a little more time. What happened to those books The Librarian had on Elementals? I thought they got scanned into the database a while back, but I can’t find them.”

There was a short pause. “The database got hacked three days ago,” he admitted. “The Librarian sent out an email, did you not check yours?”

Brienne grimaced. The Librarian wasn’t a superhero but rather an independent contractor with ties to a superhero’s family, most often a relative. The Librarian kept all the records on villains, which had been moved online after enough security measures had been created to make it impossible for hackers to discover. Brienne had heard a rumor that the latest Librarian was actually a hacker so they would know all the tricks.

And now someone had beaten them at their own game.

“If they got into the database, does that mean The Kraken might know our identities?” Brienne asked. “I know the only information in the database is on the villains, but we log onto it all the time. I logged onto it just this morning.”

Another pause. “Pack a bag, get a new phone and laptop, and head north. Drive your car, don’t take the main roads, and pay cash to stay at hotels under an assumed name. I’ll head down there to be The Evenstar until this son of a whore is dead.”

“Dad?”

“I mean it, Brienne! The Librarian said they’d patched the hole in the system, but I’m not taking any chances.”

“If the system’s been fixed, then I’ll be fine. I just won’t have the information I need on Elementals.” Something tickled in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t think of what it was. “Maybe there’s something on the general internet about it. Jaime said something…” _What had he said?_

“Jaime? What’s Jaime got to do with this?” Selwyn asked.

“I told you about that ridiculous research project of his, but he was at Jalabhar’s when the robbery happened. After it was over, he waited for me at the police precinct and…distracted people from thinking I was The Evenstar.” _He also knows I’m a woman, and I still can’t figure out what tipped him off._ “He said he had a source of information on The Kraken, but the source didn’t say how to vanquish him.

“Did he say what his source was?”

“I wasn’t in a frame of mind to ask him then.” Nor could she ask him now, as either The Evenstar or as Brienne. “What do we know about Elementals in general? Has anyone living faced one before?”

“The Three-Eyed Crow would know but getting a straight answer out of him would be like asking Robert Baratheon to give up drinking. By the time we could get through all the cryptic junk, The Kraken will have taken over the world.”

Brienne hesitated. “Dad…do you think there’s a possibility that we might need to call in some of the others? The other superheroes? Wouldn’t it make sense for us to work together as a team when we’re facing something like this? Because he won’t stop at me. We know he won’t, which means they know it, too.”

“We can’t risk it,” Selwyn said. “If one superhero is captured, there is the risk of exposure for them all. Better for you not to know who the others are, that way they can carry on your work if…if something happens to you.”

It didn’t made sense to Brienne—for the Seven’s sake, why couldn’t they just meet with their masks on?—but she accepted it like she’d accepted so many other things her father had taught her. She knew of the existence of the other superheroes and what part of the realm they covered, and that was an end to it.

She also knew that when the mantle of one superhero passed on to the next generation, presuming that mantle didn’t get passed on due to death, the former superhero often connected with some of the others who had retired. Brienne knew her father had opted against it, though she didn’t have the courage to ask why. Although she loved him dearly, she knew there was a part of himself that Selwyn kept distant from her…and from everyone. The two people he was closest to were probably Ned and Catelyn Stark.

“I’m going to do some digging,” Selwyn said. “There’s no way The Librarian got rid of the books after he scanned in the contents. He’ll have the originals. It’ll be a harder time finding the information, but maybe he’ll get something before The Kraken strikes again.”

“Okay. That helps. Thanks.”

“Yeah, well, thank me by taking care of yourself. Don’t engage The Kraken in battle if you can help it. See if you can get a little more protection built into your suits.”

“The only way they could give me more protection is to put me in titanium armor.”

“Titanium. I like it. We’ll have them dye it blue and you can change your name to The Blue Knight. Maybe that’ll confuse The Kraken into making a mistake.”

“Daaaaaad,” Brienne groaned

He chuckled, though it sounded forced. “Gotta go, kiddo. Catelyn’s making a lamprey pie for lunch and I don’t want to miss it.”

Brienne’s stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t had lunch, either. “Sounds wonderful,” she said. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Brienne.”

Brienne hung up the phone, went to her living room, and sat in her recliner, stewing. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now. She needed to know everything she could about The Kraken, but the information she needed was now gone. Jaime had information but probably not enough. She couldn’t contact him anyway. She wouldn’t place his life at risk by telling him who she was.

Brienne had a brief thought that maybe what Jaime had learned wasn’t the work of his strong research abilities but someone feeding him information in the hopes of luring her out. But that couldn’t be. Jaime had said that his source had been murky on how one would kill The Kraken, but he hadn’t said the information wasn’t there at all. Why would The Kraken feed Jaime information that could be used against him in the end? Why would…

Her eyes drifted shut just as her phone went off with the siren sound that meant only one thing.

The Kraken had struck again.


	6. Part VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part VI: In which The Kraken goes on a rampage, and Brienne pisses off a parking lot security guard. She's really not upset about the latter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Continued love and thanks for everyone leaving comments and kudos--I will respond to the comments after the big reveal!!
> 
> I hope to be able to post a big chunk of the story today, so watch this space!!

_Multiple robberies in progress at The Dragonpit. Known locations include: Vicarious, Chataya’s House of Many Pleasures, The Dragon’s Gems, The Broken Anvil. Sightings of Kraken Gang confirmed. Presence of The Kraken unknown._

As she changed into her suit faster than she ever had in her life, Brienne did a quick inventory of her aches, pains, and limited abilities.

The headache was gone but she knew she still suffered lingering effects from the concussion. She attempted to use her telekinetic power to pick up a shoe, felt a small pinch between her eyebrows, and allowed the shoe to drop with a thud. So telekinesis was out unless she wanted to have a stroke.

Although she healed faster than most, her right shoulder had taken a good hard knock. She could only raise it so far before it started hurting, and she didn’t know how much force she’d be able to put behind it if she had to punch someone with it. Her back didn’t seem to bother her anymore, so that was something. And her left shoulder was perfectly fine. So she maybe had a fighting chance against The Kraken.

Or maybe she was kidding herself.

Once the suit was on, she dug up another trench coat and put it on, not that she thought she was going to need it. It was more for any nosy neighbors who might see her pull out of her garage. Once she’d gotten a few blocks away from her neighborhood, she would put on her hood and mask so that the minute she parked somewhere, she could go. 

She went into the garage and pulled her car key out of her pocket, frowning. She had a problem. If she locked her key in the car, as she usually did, she wouldn’t be able to get it out again. Not with her telekinesis on the fritz. Her suit fit her like a glove and had no pockets, and she couldn’t very well carry the trench coat with her.

 _I’ll bet superheroes in the comic books never had to worry about this,_ she thought irritably. She hoped her car didn’t get towed before she could get back to it tomorrow with her spare key.

As she pulled out of her garage, Brienne sent a prayer to every god she could think of that she’d get through this in one piece.

~*~*~*~*~*

The Dragonpit had once been a ruined domed building that sat atop the Hill of Rhaenys. It had been one of the few places in King’s Landing that hadn’t been destroyed in The Battles of the Mad Queens. Historians pointed out that it had pretty much been a ruin to begin with, so how could one tell? When the decision was made to finally renovate the building, the Small Council also decided to renovate the entire hill area and name it after the old ruin. The area was turned into an enclave for the wealthy—high-priced condominiums, chic restaurants, luxury boutiques, and the like.

Brienne figured that the Kraken Gang had picked the perfect time of day and the perfect businesses to strike. At almost six o’clock, The Dragon’s Gems was closing for the day and would have a cash register full of money. It was Happy Hour as well as Ladies’ Night at Vicarious, the bar on the northeast corner of The Dragonpit. Chataya’s House of Many Pleasures…well, it was busy round the clock, so there would be plenty of patrons to rob and plenty of money available.

What she couldn’t figure out was why they’d chosen The Broken Anvil. Yes, the restaurant was a popular spot, but it didn’t open until four in the afternoon on Wednesdays. The only reason she could see was that like the other three places on the list, The Broken Anvil was on the eastern edge of The Dragonpit. The Kraken Gang could get in and out quickly, then fade into the shadows of the park.

Snow Park was the long-ago Small Council’s concession to the fact that The Dragonpit was close to the cesspool that was Flea Bottom. The park was a vast expanse of trees, jogging trails, flat grassy spots perfect for picnicking, statues to fallen heroes from the Second Long Night, and other delights running all along the border The Dragonpit shared with Flea Bottom. The only way to get to The Dragonpit directly from Flea Bottom was to go through the park, and the only parking available to the public on the Flea Bottom side of the park was on the park’s east side. Private parking for the young elites who lived in the lower sections of The Dragonpit was available in the northeast section, which was where Brienne headed as this section was closest to Vicarious.

She was stopped by a lowered gate. The sign beside it read, “Only residents of The Dragonpit assigned to this lot and their guests permitted to park. Any attempts to park in this lot without proof of residence or a verified parking pass from a resident will result in 30 days in jail and a 1500-dragon fine.”

Brienne rolled her eyes as a small man in the booth beside the gate hopped out of his station and walked toward her.

_“The seventh rule to being a successful superhero,” Selwyn said, “which perhaps should be the second rule, is not to assume you’re above the law because you maintain order in the city. In fact, your behavior should be above reproach when you’re in the suit.”_

“Excuse me, ma’am, but unless you have a parking pass, you can’t—”

 _Sorry, Dad, but I’m in a bit of a hurry._ Brienne stepped on the gas and broke the arm of the gate as she drove through it. The security guard squawked at her as she pulled into the closest parking spot that wasn’t for the physically disabled. She turned off the engine and opened the door, used the key fob to lock her doors before sticking it in the middle console, and went to get out only to find the guard had grabbed the door.

“This is outrageous! I’ve called the Gold Cloaks!” he shouted furiously as he started to close her door. “You’re not going anywhere until they get here, and you _will_ be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the damage you just did!”

Brienne did not have time to deal with Mr. Rent-a-Cloak. She wouldn’t break Selwyn Tarth’s Golden Rule to Being a Superhero: Never Use Your Powers on Innocent Bystanders, but neither was she going to him stop her.

“Thanks for calling the Gold Cloaks. They need to know I’m here,” she said as she pushed at the door, opening it easily. The guard stumbled backwards and fell on his behind. Brienne stepped out of the car and closed the door. She looked down at him and knew that the polite thing to do would be to offer a hand to help him up—it was yet another one of her father’s rules.

She wasn’t feeling very polite today.

Brienne took off at a dead run, her legs sending up a minor protest because she hadn’t run in five days. Her right shoulder was definitely going to make her pay later on, but she shoved the pain aside and focused on getting to Vicarious.

She’d almost reached the bar when the sky darkened, and a sudden gust of wind nearly knocked her off her feet. She heard terrified shrieks followed by yelling as the wind died down. Her stomach knotted and she knew The Kraken had arrived. The question was—to which robbery? The other three robberies had occurred over a half-mile area, and from what she could see of Vicarious, it didn’t look like he was there.

The scene outside the bar was chaos. Two ambulances and several paramaesters were on scene, although it looked like most of the injuries were due to people stepping on each other trying to get out. Brienne snagged the arm of the closest Gold Cloak, a fresh-faced young man she didn’t recognize at first. “What’s the update?” she asked.

“E-Evenstar!” Despite the gravity of the situation, he smiled, revealing a missing front tooth, and then she remembered him—Officer Payne. His smile was gone as fast as it had appeared. “The robbers are gone from here, and I heard they also got away from Chataya’s and Dragon Gems.”

Which meant The Kraken was at The Broken Anvil. Not the longest distance, thankfully—Chataya’s was almost at the end of the row of businesses. “I can’t give you any orders, but you might want to get everyone inside,” she said. “That gust of wind is The Kraken’s calling card.”

“I-I know,” Officer Payne said. “We all heard what happened at JSM.”

“Then you know what he’s capable of doing. I don’t know how much more protection people will have inside a building, but definitely more than they’d have outside it.” But to get everyone to safety, Brienne knew they’d lose any clues to the robbers’ identities left inside. She sighed. “If Slynt gives you any grief, tell him I insisted. I’ll take the hit. Good luck, Officer.”

She heard him call out ‘good luck’ to her as she left.

Brienne supposed she had to thank The Kraken for one thing. There weren’t nearly as many people between her and The Broken Anvil as there might have been had he not arrived and cleared the road for her, so to speak.

She had cleared the second robbery site, Dragon Gems, when she heard the wind rising again; however, she didn’t feel its impact as she had before.

_He’s got someone._

Brienne couldn’t run any faster than she was already, but she gave it her best. Now the people on the sidewalk were pushing each other back to let her through. She thought she heard them call after her, but she went by so fast she couldn’t hear anything over her pulse pounding in her ears.

The first person she spotted was Selmy, standing with another member of the Kingsguard she wasn’t as familiar with, though she’d seen him around—Ser Arys Oakheart. They were surrounded by Gold Cloaks—Redwyne, Bywater, and as ever, Janos Slynt. Selmy spotted her first and waved her over. He didn’t wait for her to ask before he spoke.

“Did you see him arrive?” he asked.

“No, but I heard it. Where is he?”

“Back dining terrace. We don’t know why he chose this one over the other three or why this site was chosen at all. He’s not going to see nearly as much money from a restaurant as he would from other businesses in this district.”

The sound of rushing wind filled the air again, followed by, “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Then high-pitched laughter.

“What is he doing?” she asked, more to herself than to Selmy. “I thought he had someone caught in the wind.”

“Not sure yet. The robbers not only took everyone’s purses and wallets, they took all electronics. No one in there has a cell phone.” Selmy hesitated. “They didn’t do that at the other places. All signs point to this place having significance to The Kraken, but what?”

“If nothing else, it’s a clue to his true identity,” Slynt said, having overheard that.

“If The Kraken’s on the terrace, are the robbers with him or still in the building?” she asked. “What about the customers and staff?”

“Robbers are with The Kraken on the terrace. Most of the customers and staff got out when they joined him, but the bartender thinks there are a few people holed up in the men’s room who don’t know they can get out. The waitress who worked the back terrace says there was only one family of six there at the time, but we have aerial report of at least one person out there, so maybe they’d just been seated when everything went down,” Selmy replied. “Oakheart’s my best negotiator, but with no real way to get in touch with The Kraken…”

“He wouldn’t do any good in this situation,” Brienne replied. “Not that The Kraken’s going to hide anything about why he’s here, but he’s waiting for the right audience.” She rolled her shoulders, grimacing slightly at the dart of pain.

There was another rush of wind, stronger but still not enough to knock anyone around her off balance. _“I know you’re here somewhere! Come out now before I kill your little friend!”_

“I’m going in,” Brienne said at the same time Slynt asked, “Does he know who you are?”

“No one knows who I am,” Brienne answered. “I had no plans for tonight, and if I had, this wouldn’t be a place I’d choose to go. We’ll debate everything later, but for now—I’m going in.” Brienne walked to the front door of the restaurant and walked in. She started to head toward the opaque glass doors that opened to the back terrace when she remembered the people in the bathroom. She made a quick detour and opened the door.

At first glance, the bathroom appeared deserted until she realized that every bathroom stall door was closed. “This is The Evenstar,” she said. “The Kraken Gang and their leader are outside on the terrace. I’m going to distract him. Wait three minutes and go out the front door. Gold Cloaks and the Kingsguard are waiting to take you to safety.”

Brienne closed the door and got about four steps away when the door opened behind her.

“Evenstar?”

_Oh, no. No, no, NO! MotherFatherWarriorSmithMaidenCroneStranger!!_

“Get back inside.”

“I will, but the man I was with tonight can help you if you can find him. He knows about—” Jaime started to say.

“Go back inside and wait three minutes!” she said in a low voice, walking away and praying that for once in his stubborn life, Jaime would listen to her.

She was almost to the doors when the glass rattled from the force of the wind. Several voices screamed, with a child’s voice the loudest of all. She threw open the doors and saw what she’d feared. The trio of robbers who’d been assigned to this restaurant stared at a pudgy, dark-haired boy rising in the air, held in place by The Kraken.

“Hey!” she shouted. His head jerked in her direction. The boy began to drop. Brienne moved forward quickly and caught him in her arms, grateful she’d been close enough to do so. She set the boy on the ground and shoved him in the direction of the door, then turned back to face The Kraken. “I heard you were looking for me.”

He first looked confused, almost as if he didn’t know what she was doing there. Then he looked delighted. “Come to join my party again, Evenstar?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She took a look around her. Most of the tables on the terrace had blown over and been shoved against the perimeter of the terrace by the wind. In one corner, a family of five huddled together behind one of the larger tables—a man, woman, and three young dark-haired children. The parents clutched the children close as though that might save them. Another man, short and squat, sat alone at a smaller table that had somehow escaped being overturned. He must have been the person Selmy had mentioned. For some reason, he looked resigned. “But your friends here are kind of boring. Why don’t we ditch them so we can have some real fun together?”

“I don’t know about that,” The Kraken said. “Some of them are dead interesting. Or should I say they’re interesting dead?” A sudden rush of wind whooshed past Brienne, caught the older man in its grip, and hurtled him through the glass doors. Not content to stop at that, the wind picked up the man again and slammed him hard against the back wall of the restaurant several times before dropping him on the ground.

The cold laughter of The Kraken and his gang accompanied the whimpers of the family.

Brienne prayed the boy had gotten out of the restaurant. She prayed Jaime had heard the commotion and stayed in the bathroom after all. She prayed the family who had just witnessed this would find a way not to see it in their dreams for long.

She prayed she would be able to forgive herself someday for not being able to stop The Kraken from killing that man. But she couldn’t think of him now. She had to put those feelings away and focus on making sure no one else got hurt.

_Don’t antagonize him. Figure out a way to get these people out of here without antagonizing him!_

“You’ve proven your point,” she said, deliberately putting a tremor in her voice though she felt empty. “You’re a very powerful being. An Elemental. When it comes to power, you leave me in the dust.”

For the second time in less than three minutes, she’d caught him off guard. “Well, well. An honest superhero. Not many of you around.”

“Why quibble words when we both know the truth? You could crush these people here as easily as you could that man in there.” She heard a whimper from at least one of the children and wished she could take back her words. “But you strike me as a man who likes a challenge. These people aren’t a challenge for you. I would be. Let them go, and I’ll give you one.”

His lip curled. “How do I know you’ll keep your word unless I have a little incentive?” A gust of wind whipped around the terrace. The family curled further inward on each other. Brienne didn’t budge. She took that as a good sign.

“Because I’m an honest superhero. You said it yourself,” she said.

“How about this for a challenge? I try to kill you while you try to save them. Sounds like fun to me.” The Kraken raised his hand, but Brienne anticipated him. She’d figured out that when he did this, he was directing the burst instead of sending out a general gust of wind, so she dodged left, then headed straight for him. She managed to knock him down, but before he could get a bead on her like he had the other day, she jumped back and to the left of him.

One of the gang members fired his gun at her. Instinctively, Brienne reached out telekinetically and yanked the gun from his hand, a searing pain almost blinding her as she did so. She stumbled and felt the rush of wind narrowly miss her again as she dropped to the ground. She knew she wouldn’t be so lucky the next time.

The next thing she heard was a gasp and a thud, followed by two more in rapid succession. She blinked several times and although her vision was blurry, she saw that the three gang members had dropped to the ground. They’d all been shot in the head.

The Kraken turned and hurtled wind at a target it might never reach. Brienne knew that Kingsguard marksmen could shoot targets upwards of two miles away. He looked back at her with fury in his one eye.

“I knew you wouldn’t fight fair,” he said.

“I did say I’d present a challenge. I didn’t say what kind of challenge that would be,” she replied. “You’d better run along before they get you. I doubt the eyepatch is bulletproof.” _So much for not antagonizing him,_ she thought. She picked up one of the tables and threw it at him. He caught it and sent it back toward her, but she dodged and it crashed into the remnants of the glass door.

He tracked her movements in preparation of another strike only to stop short when a fourth bullet whizzed past his head, missing him by mere inches. Fortunately for her, it struck her in the shoulder and bounced away (although she’d have the thrice-damned bruise for a month).

The Kraken’s face twisted into a snarl as he raised a sudden wind that drove everyone to the ground before he disappeared.

~*~*~*~*~*

The best Brienne could say about the aftermath of this fiasco was that at least the family from the terrace, the Hettles, were going to be all right. They’d been taken to the hospital to get checked out even though none of them had been injured. Brienne hoped they would get the help they needed to heal from what had happened.

The four people who had taken refuge in the men’s room came out and answered Gold Cloak questions. Three of them were allowed to go home straight from the restaurant. The fourth had been the one to identify the body of the dead man from the terrace as Archie Haereg, and so the Gold Cloaks had a few more questions for him—at their headquarters.

Brienne watched from behind a two-way mirror as Jaime told them what he knew about the man he’d met for dinner.

“No, we weren’t friends. I’d only met Archie one other time before when he provided me with some information I needed.”

“I’m a history professor at King’s Landing University, sir, specializing in The Conquest.”

“The information? It was for my research project. I have a theory about the noble families from the pre-Second Long Night era. See, most of the noble families…oh. Sorry.”

“No, I didn’t get the information he knew, to my regret, because I think he was the only person who knew it.”

“Do I think he was killed for what he knew? Why would The Kraken want to kill someone over the old noble families? They’ve been dead for hundreds of years.” Jaime didn’t hesitate to answer the question, but she’d known him for years and she knew when he wasn’t telling the truth.

_Why would he lie?_

After an hour, Slynt and Selmy agreed that Jaime didn’t have any further information at this time. Slynt looked disappointed that he couldn’t find a reason to inconvenience Jaime further, so he settled for telling Jaime in a menacing voice that he shouldn’t leave town for a while.

Brienne walked into the interrogation room after Jaime had gone and sat in his seat.

“He’s lying.” Slynt glared at the closed door.

“Yes, he is,” Selmy agreed. “The question is, what’s he lying about?”

“I have a damned good guess,” Slynt said.

Brienne looked from one to the other, stunned. “If you both think he’s lying, why did you let him go?” she asked.

Slynt snorted. “Because he’s one of those thrice-damned _Lannisters_ , that’s why. We arrest Tywin Lannister’s son on possible accessory to murder charges, I won’t be on the unemployment line. You’ll find me at the bottom of Blackwater Bay.”

“He’s not an accessory,” Selmy said, annoyed.

“Oh, isn’t he? He was at Jalabhar’s when the place got robbed, no real reason to be there.”

“Unless he was shopping for jewelry,” Brienne said sarcastically.

“Doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend. No sisters. The mother died giving birth to his freak of a brother.” Brienne’s fist curled at the slight to Tyrion as Slynt looked through the file on the table that he’d brought into the room before Jaime’s interrogation. “According to him, he was buying a gift for a friend. Said something about being a dick to her and wanting to make it up.”

Brienne’s fist unclenched and her heart flipped. Jaime had been at Jalabhar’s to get something for _her_?

“What’s wrong with buying a gift for a friend?” Selmy asked.

“Jewelry from the most expensive place in the city, for just a friend?” Slynt’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.

“Lannisters probably consider items from Jalabhar’s to be junk jewelry. The idea that he’s working with The Kraken is absurd. But he’s lying about something, and we need to know what it is.” Selmy’s phone went off. He checked the message and stood up from his chair. “Prime Minister Baratheon wants an update in person. Slynt, the first Kraken Task Force meeting’s been scheduled for nine in the morning.”

Slynt nodded curtly.

“Evenstar, the Hettles wanted me to thank you for saving their lives tonight. They said they understood they wouldn’t be able to do it in person.” Selmy paused, smiling. “Their littlest guy’s in love, I think. He asked me if I’d ask you to marry him.”

Brienne huffed out a laugh. Wasn’t her first proposal in the suit, wouldn’t be the last. She nodded goodbye to Selmy and got up to leave herself when she remembered…

“Snow Park Security’s got a beef with you, Evenstar,” Slynt said smugly. “Something about your car and a parking lot security gate?”

“Send me the bill. I’ll pay for it,” she said. “I’ll even pay the fifteen hundred dragons for the fine.”

“Sure, I’ll send the bill. To who?” Slynt opened the file and thrust a piece of paper at her. “Car’s registered to one Humphrey Wagstaff. There’s no Humphrey Wagstaff in the database, because all his information is false, including his name.” He smiled. “And we can’t release the car to anyone who can’t prove he isn’t Humphrey Wagstaff.”

Brienne thought forlornly, _I’m going to miss that car._

“Guess that’ll cover the fine and the security gate replacement.” Brienne didn’t listen to whatever else Slynt said as she left, figuring it was more of the same. She wanted to get home as soon as she could to think about this situation with Jaime and why he’d lied in his interview. She wanted to go back through and record what she’d learned about The Kraken tonight. She wanted—

Hells. Slynt had her damned car. She supposed she could go over his head, but who was that? The Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish? Bobby B himself? She slammed open the door to headquarters, almost sending it flying off the hinges.

“What did that door ever do to you?”

Brienne wasn’t surprised at all to see Jaime once again waiting across the street from a Gold Cloaks station waiting for her.


	7. Part VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part VII: In which The Kraken tries to destroy any information about previous Krakens, and Jaime gives Brienne a trench coat. Brienne's really tired of seeing Jaime at crime scenes.

“You again,” she muttered, going past him.

“I brought you something,” Jaime said, falling into step with her. She stopped and looked at him, realizing he held a trench coat that she recognized as one she’d bought him for Sevenmas two years ago. “This area isn’t as crowded as downtown King’s Landing on a Friday night, but there are enough people around to notice you.”

Brienne pointed across the street at an alley. “Look at how easy it’ll be for me to get lost.”

“You eventually have to come out the other side. Please, take the coat.”

“Won’t you miss it?” Brienne couldn’t help asking.

His hesitation meant the world to her. “I will,” he admitted. “But I think the person who gave it to me would understand. Please.”

Brienne glanced around. There were a few people staring at them. “All right, but not here. If it’s going to work as a disguise, I can’t put it on in front of whoever might see. And once I put it on, you’re gone.”

Jaime nodded in agreement. “Then before that happens—”

“Start walking. People are watching.” Brienne checked to make sure no cars approached before crossing the street. Once they were across, she asked, “Why did you lie?”

“About what?”

“About why you were meeting Archie Haereg. It had to do with The Kraken, didn’t it? He was your source.” Brienne walked faster, looking for a likely alley to get lost in. So far, all she saw were dead ends.

“Yes, he was, and now he’s dead. Do I know for certain that it’s because of what he knew? No, but don’t you think it’s funny that of all the places in The Dragonpit that The Kraken could’ve chosen to rob _and_ show up in person, he went with a half-full restaurant?” She looked at him in surprise. “I’m not an idiot. I can put the clues together. I don’t know _how_ The Kraken figured out we would be there, because Haereg was a fanatic for keeping everything secret, but he did.”

“Did you tell anyone where you were going? Write it down on any calendars, send a message to someone?” Brienne asked.

“I told my brother that I was meeting with someone tonight, but not where or when. And Tyrion has no reason to tell anyone. He thinks this was about another project, and he knows how much that project means to me.”

“Which brings me back to my question—why did you lie?”

Jaime motioned to the alley they were by. “I think this one will work.”

 _He’s avoiding the question, as usual._ Brienne took a quick look, saw daylight at the end of the alley he indicated, and nodded. “I’ll go first. You make sure the coast is clear, then give me the coat and go,” she said. She didn’t wait for his agreement, ducking into the alley and taking shelter behind a nearby dumpster. Jaime joined her a minute later but held the coat out of reach when she grabbed at it.

“To answer your question—would you trust the Gold Cloaks with potentially sensitive information?”

And there it was. She’d suspected his reasons had to do with not trusting the Gold Cloaks. “Barristan Selmy is as good as they come.”

“I don’t know Barristan Selmy. Even if I did, I wasn’t alone in that room with him, I was in a room with him and a Gold Cloak. And I also don’t know if I would have told Selmy if we had been alone. I don’t know who to trust anymore, except you because you’re the only person The Kraken won’t be able to corrupt.”

Brienne folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not saying you don’t have a point. Slynt’s dirty and when the commander’s the problem, it’s hard to know who else isn’t. But Selmy…”

“Selmy’s a good man, yes, as are most of his sworn brothers if you believe the news stories. But can you tell me, with all honesty, that you would trust anyone with information about The Kraken if you feared it might get to him? That was what Haereg feared. It’s why I spent hours convincing him…” Jaime broke off. “I convinced him he would be safe. If anyone’s to blame for his death, it’s me.”

“No. The only person responsible for his death is The Kraken,” she said softly. “Haereg felt the information was important enough to take the risk, or you wouldn’t have convinced him.”

Jaime turned away, left hand over his face. Brienne felt a small chink in the wall she’d erected over her own feelings about her role in Haereg’s death. She put her hand on his shoulder, feeling it shake slightly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Jaime nodded, lowered his hand, and turned back toward her. Brienne pulled her hand away.

“I have to go,” she said. “Jaime…if you’re right and The Kraken came to The Broken Anvil to kill Haereg, then you’re in danger. Even if Haereg didn’t tell you whatever it is you met with him to discuss tonight, The Kraken will think you know what he knew.”

“I know,” Jaime said. He looked like he was thinking about something. “Elementals must be in their element for their powers to be at their most effective. The Hydra can access water anywhere on the planet, but they’re at their best in large bodies of water—oceans, lakes, rivers. The Dragon needs a spark, but once they have a flame, they’re almost unstoppable. No one’s ever been certain if there’s an Earth Elemental, but gods help us all if there is. And then there’s The Kraken.”

“He must be the most powerful of them all.” _Fear cuts deeper than swords…._ “Air is literally everywhere. Oh gods, the only place I might be able to stop him is outer space.”

“That may not be entirely accurate,” Jaime said. “And that’s what Haereg told me tonight before all seven hells broke loose. He believed that while The Kraken’s power comes from the air, it’s amplified by the wind. Even the slightest breeze brings him immense power.”

Brienne considered this. “In other words, he’s stronger outside than he would be indoors?”

Jaime nodded. “There isn’t a natural wind source indoors. We hadn’t gotten around to talking about how to defeat him before the robbery started, so I can’t help you with that.” Jaime handed her the trench coat, which she slipped on. “Haereg warned me that it was just a theory as he’d never seen The Kraken in action, but he’d read enough about the previous Kraken who was an Elemental to piece together an educated guess of how his powers work.”

“It makes sense,” Brienne said. “I have seen The Kraken in action, but both times have been outdoors. I wonder what would’ve happened if you and Haereg had been indoors when the robbery had happened.”

“We were. In fact, we were not only indoors, we were in an out-of-the-way corner because it was the most private spot in the restaurant. I could hear the robbers…how do I describe this? They didn’t talk, but obviously they were doing something to get some of the people out to the terrace. The others must’ve been their cover so no one would figure out they were after Haereg.” He gave her the saddest smile she’d ever seen on his face. “So now you know. If something happens to me, at least you know.”

Every nerve in Brienne’s body shrieked, _NO!_ at the thought that Jaime was in danger, but of course, he had been since the moment he’d come up with that cursed project. She hated that she felt grateful he’d switched from focusing on superheroes to focusing on The Kraken, because Jaime had jumped from a fireplace into a vat of wildfire and there would be no getting him out unless she could kill The Kraken.

“Get yourself safe,” she blurted out. “Get out of King’s Landing. Better still, get out of Westeros until this is over. Stay at one of your family’s five thousand summer houses. You said you were researching the old families of Westeros, so go do some work on that.”

“Might be hard to do from a beach in the Summer Isles,” Jaime replied. “I’m not going to do anything stupid, but I’m not running away, either. I can’t live like Haereg did and cringe at my own shadow. I’ve never lived my life that way and I’m too old to start now.”

_Why do we keep having the same conversation, whether I’m Brienne or The Evenstar?_

This time, it was Jaime who walked away.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne feared she would have another horrific headache the next day after using telekinesis, but the pain was manageable. Her vision had stopped blurring, at least. She sent the information Jaime had provided her to The Librarian, along with Haereg’s name and what had happened to him.

 **Trying to figure out how the database got hacked so could be a while before information gets added,** they replied.

Brienne frowned and shot back: _I would think finding out anything possible on the most dangerous villain seen in a generation would trump internal security measures. That can wait. The Kraken can’t._

**You damned superheroes are all alike. What do you think happens if our security gets so lax any dumbass can read everything we know about villains?**

Brienne nearly threw her laptop. The Librarian was always a massive pain in the ass, but in the last few years they’d seemed to get worse. Maybe she’d suggest to her father that they look into finding a new one who had their priorities in the right place.

If she survived this.

Brienne spent the rest of her day on the mundane activities of her everyday life. She got in most of her workout while taking it easy on her sore shoulder. She took a cab to a used car dealership and purchased another car, picked up her dry cleaning and did her laundry, paid bills, and went through her emails. She even made plans with Margaery and Sansa for the next girls’ night out.

Brienne normally cherished days like these, when she got to do the things everyone else in Westeros did. But uppermost in her mind was what The Kraken was doing, and when he would strike next. Something about what had happened at The Broken Anvil bothered her, and she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. She got in touch with Selmy and asked for updates, but he didn’t have anything new. She wanted to ask him if they’d gone through Haereg’s things and if so, what they’d found. If she did that, though, Selmy would want to know why she was interested, and that would create more interest in Jaime. She wouldn’t risk that.

She thought about getting in touch with Jaime. She picked up her phone half a dozen times, even got as far as starting a text message to him. But what would she say? She’d read the newspaper reports on the robberies, but Jaime’s name wasn’t mentioned at all. Too many robbery victims to name them all, she supposed, not to mention that he hadn’t actually been robbed since he’d been in the bathroom the whole time.

Brienne added this to the running tally of times she hated being a superhero, because she wanted nothing more than to call Jaime up, tell him she was sorry about his friend, and offer him the comfort he’d offered her when all he’d thought she had was a bad hangover.

After she’d gotten through her to-do list, it was early evening and she was left with nothing but The Kraken. She thought about trying to light a fire under The Librarian again but all that would do was piss them off. She turned on her VPN and did a quick search for Archie Haereg and found that he’d written several books on the Ironborn, including what was considered the definitive book on their history. That didn’t help—she already knew she was dealing with one of the Greyjoys. Still, she downloaded the history book to her tablet and began reading.

She was asleep in minutes.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne woke up Friday morning feeling the best she had in about two weeks. She went on her morning jog, feeling refreshed and energized. Her head didn’t hurt, though she was still leery about using telekinesis. She was down to occasional twinges in her shoulder. Her back felt fine. She took a shower and had breakfast, writing on the small notepad she had attached to her fridge to pick up milk when she went shopping later. She called her father, who told her that she wasn’t the only person complaining about The Librarian lately, but there was nothing they could do about it for now.

She was on her way to campus to do some research when it struck her that it was Friday. Friday, which meant it had been two weeks since she’d last heard from Jaime…so to speak. Not even a text message from him in that time. Even when they’d gone through the biggest fight they’d ever had three years ago, when he’d been dating this total bitch named Cersei, Jaime had texted her almost every day about _something,_ whether it had been about a book he’d read or asking if she would bring a particular dish to Sansa’s monthly potluck dinner. They didn’t talk for three months—the amount of time it took for Cersei to break his heart by cheating on him repeatedly and dumping him for some sleazy rock star who went by the ridiculous name of Moon Boy. But at least he’d been in contact.

Brienne decided that she needed to be the bigger person when it came to the fight with Jaime, especially since he’d been through something traumatic. She parked her car in her assigned spot, affixed the temporary parking pass she’d never gotten around to making permanent because of how often she went through cars, and sent Jaime a message. 

**Want to get lunch with me today? Today’s Special: Humble Pie.**

Brienne was unlocking the door to her office when she received a reply.

_Can’t, sorry. Got a lot on my mind, lately. Will maybe be able to talk to you about it later, but right now just can’t._

Brienne almost called him anyway, knowing why he was hurting so much that he sent that terse message, but she’d heard from him. That was the main thing. She sent a quick **OK** and was about to toss her phone back in her purse when the siren tone went off. She checked her message.

_Several calls received from Snow Park of suspicious group of six men, white shirts, black cargo pants, black boots. Suspects believed to be heading southeast. Direct target unknown, possibly Sept of Baelor or Red Keep. Suspects believed to be members of Kraken Gang. Please respond._

Brienne had wondered how long it would take for The Kraken to change course from robberies to political and/or religious targets. She wasn’t religious but she did feel a surge of anger that The Kraken would dare target the king. The current ruler was the tenth of his name, and in the centuries of his line’s rule, the wars and rebellions that had scarred Westeros had more or less ended.

Of course, The Kraken wanted to destroy all that. She’d be damned if she’d let him.

Brienne responded that she’d received the message and asked them to keep her updated on what was going on. She dressed quickly, unlocked the large cabinet, and went through the corridor to the shed. At the shed, she asked for an update.

**Still not sure, but their projected direction puts them in the path of the Guildhall of the Alchemists.**

“Gods,” she whispered. She’d bet The Kraken had heard the rumors that those idiots were still playing around with wildfire. The rumors were never true as the knowledge for how to create wildfire was lost when the Mad Queens destroyed the city, but there was always some story going around. If The Kraken wasn’t familiar with King’s Landing lore, he wouldn’t know that and he’d probably want to check it out. While there wouldn’t be any wildfire laying around, there would be plenty of other interesting things he could look use to wreak havoc on the city.

Only if Haereg’s theory was correct, The Kraken have difficulty getting to it under his own power, as most of the labs in the Guildhall were below ground for control purposes. One small consolation, Brienne supposed, and perhaps a bit of hope. If The Kraken did show up, she might be able to stop him by trapping him inside.

Brienne drove to Snow Park and entered on the southeast side, where she didn’t have to deal with any annoying parking lot guards. She locked her car and jogged southeast on the Street of the Sisters. Traffic was fairly light for this time of day, which made moving around easier. She had a feeling that she might be able to do something before serious damage was done, and the knowledge gave her extra energy as she ran. She was nearing the corner of Sisters and Seeds when her watch vibrated with an update.

_Kraken Gang confirmed heading toward—_

A gunshot rang out, followed by several more in quick succession. Several voices shrieked in terror. Brienne looked across the street and saw people running away, which brought her to the corner and pandemonium. People were running away not from the Guildhall, which was just up ahead, but from the building directly across from her: the Tarly Library. A body was sprawled on the ground near the entrance, unmoving, a pool of blood widening around it.

Brienne sprinted across the street to the library, dodging cars and fleeing people. She hurried through the door expecting to see the Kraken Gang but instead found the large main area mostly deserted. Brienne hoped this meant that either the library hadn’t had many patrons or that they’d gotten out when they heard the first gunshot. She took a second to listen for any noise coming from above her, then remembered that the walls were soundproofed.

Brienne moved forward carefully, listening for any signs of the gang. At the circulation desk, which sat in the middle of the main hallway of the first floor, she heard a small, choked sound. She leaned over the desk and saw nothing but coming around she saw someone with long, light brown hair curled up in a tight ball underneath the counter.

“Hello,” she said softly. Whoever it was tried to curl in even more. “It’s…I’m The Evenstar. I’m here to help.”

Another little sob.

“You don’t have to come out from there. It’s probably best that you don’t. But did you see where they went?”

The person began shaking their head violently.

 _Dammit_.

“It’s okay. I’ll see if I can find someone else who can tell me. You stay hidden there until the Gold Cloaks get here, okay?”

Head nodding.

Brienne looked around but saw no one else. A sense of foreboding enveloped her like an anaconda. Was this a trap? Why would The Kraken attack a library?

_Stop it. Keep a cool head. The Kraken isn’t here right now, and you’re indoors._

Her watch vibrated again, and she glanced down. Her eyes went wide as she read the message.

 _Unconfirmed report that Kraken Gang is on fourth floor of Tarly Library. No sign of The Kraken at present. Task Force en route, Gold Cloaks near scene, prepared to enter building. Please respond_.

“Fourth floor?” Brienne murmured. “Why would they…”

And then she knew. The fourth floor held the Tarly Library’s collection of rare books, some going back as far as The Conquest.

She fired back a reply: _In library already. Hold off on sending in the Gold Cloaks until I can assess situation. Will report back shortly._

She opened the door to the stairwell and began climbing the stairs. She’d barely made the second-floor landing when someone shot at her. She glanced up to see one of the gang members guarding the door to the fourth-floor entrance, semi-automatic rifle in his hand.

 _Seven bloody hells,_ she thought as he shot again. She moved quickly in a zig-zag motion, not easy to do when walking up stairs, but managing not to get shot in the head. She took a couple of bullets to her right shoulder and hissed in pain but kept climbing. Brienne knew she could take the gun from him telekinetically, but she didn’t trust what would happen if she did. She hadn’t tried to do anything since Wednesday night, afraid of weakening herself further. As good as she’d been feeling, she probably would be fine to use it. But she didn’t know what she was going to find behind that door.

When one of his bullets whizzed past her ear as she reached the third-floor landing, Brienne knew she had no other choice. She glanced up at him and yanked the gun out of his hands with her mind. She felt the familiar small pinch between her eyes but that was okay. The pain wasn’t as bad as she feared. She had just enough time to savor the look of horror on his face when a muffled gunshot from inside the room he was guarding startled them both. He turned and ran inside as she scrambled up the stairs after him.

As she ran up the last flight, she tried to recall the layout of the fourth floor by memory, because she needed to give herself a fighting chance before walking into an ambush.

Unlike the other three floors, the windows on the fourth floor did not run floor-to-ceiling in order to protect the books when they were being viewed by someone. Most of the space on the floor was taken up by study tables and chairs where books could be examined and then returned to the book vault. While most of the books weren’t kept under lock and key during business hours, there were a few especially rare titles that were only accessible with permission from the head librarian, and those were in a special section of the vault that required not only a key but a code that changed regularly. The vault would be halfway down the room from where she was now, which meant a lot of ground to cover once she was inside and nowhere to hide.

She fired off a quick message to Selmy. _Fourth floor confirmed. Entering through north stairway._

Brienne threw open the door, momentarily surprised to encounter resistance as she did so. She realized that the idiot who’d been patrolling outside that door was now standing guard in front of it, somehow forgetting that the person he was trying to keep out not only had enough strength to move the door but also him.

He let out a sharp, strangled yelp as he went flying. Brienne dove for the ground right before a barrage of bullets pierced the door where she would have been standing. She glanced up to see two men standing by the information desk, reloading. She saw one man running from the direction of the elevators across the floor, guessed that the fifth was guarding the other stairwell, and the sixth was no doubt in the book vault.

Brienne sprang to her feet only to have someone pounce on her back—the man standing guard at the door. She had hoped he’d been knocked unconscious, but no such luck. He tried to put her in a headlock, but she somersaulted forward and landed on top of him. She had just enough time to see that the two men at the desk had finished reloading before she rolled onto her front, leaving her assailant to take the force of the bullets aimed for her. He slumped against her back, dead weight.

Brienne rolled again and untangled herself from him. She picked him up with ease and hurled him at the two who had been shooting at her, knocking them over. She charged toward them, kicking the guns well away from their reach and stomping on their hands as she felt the sting of bullets bouncing off her chest from the man who’d been guarding the elevator. She stumbled a bit on purpose and bent over as though injured. As she hoped, the fourth man came in closer for the kill. She jabbed her elbow into his ribcage, shifted on her feet, then delivered an uppercut that snapped his head back. She was about to follow it up with another punch when something hard hit her in the middle of the back. She stumbled for real this time but didn’t take her focus off of the opponent in front of her, who had regained his equilibrium and looked ready to charge.

Before he had the chance, however, the door to the north stairwell burst open again, and half a dozen Gold Cloaks rushed in wearing full riot gear, guns drawn.

“Freeze!” one of them yelled. “Don’t move a fucking muscle or I’ll blow your godsdamned heads off!”

The man glared at Brienne and looked as though he were willing to take the risk, but he slowly raised his hands in the air and sank to his knees.

“Lie down on the ground, hands behind your back!” the Gold Cloak, who Brienne now recognized as Jacelyn Bywater, barked. He looked at the three who had already been on the floor—two writhing in pain from crushed hands, the other one dead. There came a commotion coming from the south stairwell and Brienne guessed it wasn’t going to end well for the man charged with guarding that door. That left…

“Last one’s in the book vault,” she said.

Two of the Gold Cloaks raced around the information desk and into the vault. “Freeze—fuck! Bywater, he’s got someone!”

“Fuck,” Bywater muttered. “Of course, he does.”

It was on the tip of Brienne’s tongue to explain about the special section and why they would’ve needed someone to open the vault, but that would’ve brought more questions than the information was worth. It didn’t matter right now, anyway. What mattered was getting the hostage out alive.

“Can he talk?” Bywater asked.

“No, sir—no, don’t do it! We can bring someone in to talk! You don’t have to do this, uh—sir! We need that fancy-ass Kingsguard negotiator! He’s got a knife!”

Bywater moved closer to Brienne and asked in a low voice, “Isn’t one of your talents making shit move around?”

“I have to be able to see what’s going on. I can’t very well move a knife without seeing it, or I might end up killing the hostage. If you can get the man out here, I’d have a better chance.”

Bywater chewed on his upper lip and considered. “I don’t know if we’re getting him out of there without harm coming to the hostage no matter what.” He cocked his head, listening to whatever was being told to him through the earpiece. “What? Okay.” He leaned even closer to her. “Oakheart suggests that you say you’re leaving the room. The man might be more amenable to coming out if he thinks he’s safe from The Evenstar. When we get him out, you can do your thing.”

Brienne looked around the room and motioned to the open floor design. “Do any of them know that this isn’t like the other three floors of the library? There’s no place for me to hide,” she whispered.

“Perhaps the bathroom,” another Gold Cloak murmured.

Brienne felt foolish for not thinking of that herself.

“Good thinking,” Bywater said. “Arneld, go with The Evenstar that way he’ll know when to come out.”

Arneld looked disgruntled at that but didn’t argue. He walked with Brienne to the other end of the floor, where the restrooms were. She started to walk into the women’s room when Arneld gave her an odd look. She stopped and realized her error. “If you’re looking for a trick, would you think two men would hide in the women’s room?” she hissed. “You’d have them check the men’s room.”

Arneld nodded and followed her in.

They stood in silence for several minutes, waiting. Brienne caught a word here and there from his earpiece, not enough to figure out what was going on without Arneld giving her quick updates when he had them. The gang member could talk, so at least they didn’t have that as a barrier. He had a knife to the hostage’s throat. The hostage had not been identified as the only time he’d tried to talk, the gang member had scraped his throat with his knife to shut him up.

They were trying to get something in place as fast as they could, since they knew the longer they stalled, the more likely The Kraken would show up. Brienne doubted The Kraken would enter the building, presuming Haereg’s theory was right, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be waiting outside.

Oakheart told them to agree to have a car waiting for the gang member, with the understanding that the hostage would be let go before he left. The gang member laughed at this and rejected the offer, saying they’d kill him the minute he let the man go. He would take his hostage with him and release him when they were well enough away.

“Right,” Brienne muttered when she heard that. “Gods, just get him out of the vault and I’ll take it from there.” But even then, she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. If the gang member had the knife to the hostage’s throat, one slip the wrong way—either on her part, or the gang member’s—could have the hostage dead in seconds.

Arneld held up a hand for silence. “What? Is he an idiot? Why is he…”

Brienne waited. Arneld looked at her and said, “The gang member’s coming out. He’s still got the hostage…shit. He’s heading going out the north stairwell, not the south. Bywater says to wait—”

Brienne was done waiting. She opened the bathroom door and hurried out just as the door to the north stairwell closed. She ran across the hall only to have Bywater plant himself between her and the door. “Evenstar, stop! He’s got a bomb that he says he’ll set off if we follow!”

“And I have an answer for that bomb,” she said, running back the way she came to take the south stairwell.

“EVENSTAR, WAIT!” Bywater shouted, running after her. Brienne threw open the door to the south stairwell. She had just reached the third floor when she heard glass crashing. A lot of glass.

Like an entire set of floor-to-ceiling windows.

Bywater shouted, “The windows on this floor were just blown out! The Kraken’s been sighted!”

Brienne opened the door just as the gang member with his hostage entered from the north end. Brienne saw that he was not carrying a bomb or a knife, but he was carrying his rope-bound hostage over one shoulder.

_Had he lied about the bomb? Or is it strapped around him?_

The gang member stared at Brienne in stunned shock, then to his left. He repeated this sequence twice more, then threw the hostage to the ground and made a run for it, heading for the broken windows where he no doubt thought The Kraken would save him. Brienne made to chase after him when a strong gust of wind knocked her to the ground. She slid across the floor until she bumped into the information desk, which ran the length of the west wall on this floor. She heard the familiar eerie laughter and knew another attack was imminent.

She looked out the window. The Kraken was floating in air, hideous smile on his face.

However, although the third floor had windows, it had an advantage the fourth floor hadn’t—spaces that could be used for cover, with a quiet room built out into the main area near the bookshelves on the north side. Enough cover that if she could get to the hostage, she might be able to maneuver them to a safe place like the stairwell. If Haereg’s theory held true, The Kraken would not follow because there was no wind in a stairwell.

She needed a distraction.

The gang member, having also been caught in the wind, stumbled to his feet and provided one for her. “Kraken! Kraken! Here! I’m here! Get me out of here!”

Brienne saw the second The Kraken’s attention was off her. She reached out telekinetically and sent one of the heavy bookshelves in The Kraken’s direction at the same time she got up and ran toward the hostage. While The Kraken had been efficient at taking care of two things at once, as he’d shown the first time she’d met him, three things was apparently beyond his ability. He sent out a burst of wind to stop the bookshelf from hitting him, sending it careening back into the building toward Brienne. But by that time, Brienne had grabbed the hostage, thrown him over her left shoulder, and taken cover along the west wall of the quiet room, where she was out of sight. From there, she ran to the door to the north stairwell and went out.

The Kraken must have realized what she’d done because there was a loud roar of wind that careened through the third floor, throwing the door open in its fury. Brienne just missed being hit by the door and scurried up to the fourth floor, wondering if The Kraken had enough power to blow down an entire building and suspected he did—or he one day could.

The sound of the wind died down, and she knew The Kraken had left.

When she reached the fourth-floor landing, the adrenaline faded, and the pain in her right shoulder flared up again. She set the hostage on his feet and got her first good look at him.

Green eyes that were far more amused than they should have been given the circumstances stared back at her.

“We have to quit meeting like this,” Jaime said.

~*~*~*~*~*

“‘We have to quit meeting like this,’” Brienne mimicked in frustration when she got home that night. She could kill him, just outright _kill him_ , and not regret it for at least ten minutes.

The denouement of the library incident had gone about like she’d expected. Slynt had ranted about the fact that she’d been there before having “adequate backup,” whatever the hells he thought that meant, Selmy had wanted to know how she’d gotten at the library so quickly, and both of them wanted to know why Jaime had been there in the first place. At least this time, Jaime had a supposedly innocent reason for being there.

“I was looking for a book,” Jaime said.

“A book?” Slynt tried his best to look menacing as he glared at Jaime.

“Yes, you know, those things that are bound with leather or whatever and have words in them. You didn’t care to listen last time we met, but I’m writing about the old noble families of Westeros, and the Tarly Library has the only copy of a book I need to get some information.”

“Does it really?”

“Well, I suppose it’s possible The Citadel has it, but that’s all the way in Oldtown and—”

“What was the name of the book?” Slynt turned his chair around and sat on it.

“ _The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children._ It was written by a Grand Maester Malleon back in…gods, I think around the time of Robert’s Rebellion? Maybe a little bit before.”

The rest of the interview had gone much like that, with Jaime deflecting most questions or answering them with rambling answers that were probably half true, Slynt growing angrier as he couldn’t figure out a way to break Jaime’s story, and Selmy mediating as best he could while Brienne stood close by but asked no questions. She watched the proceedings and wondered when everything had turned into a real-life version of _Groundhog Day._

Because they had nothing to tie Jaime definitively to The Kraken’s attack, and because his reason for being there checked out, Slynt had no choice but to let Jaime go with a look of such hatred that Brienne wondered if there was something more to this than she thought. Jaime could be annoying as all hells, but she didn’t think he’d done anything that should inspire such a look.

“He’s escalating,” Selmy said grimly as they watched the forensic team gather evidence at the library. “Faster strikes, higher loss of life.”

Brienne closed her eyes and tried not to think about the five people who had been discovered shot dead on the fourth floor—four patrons and the librarian who worked the book vault. With no stacks on that floor, there had been nothing to use for cover. They’d been defenseless. According to Jaime, he’d been behind the information desk talking with the librarian at the time the Kraken Gang came in. They’d mistakenly believed he could open the vault for them despite his insistence that he couldn’t.

“He’s getting reckless,” Slynt said. “A library? What did he hope to find at a library?”

“I don’t think it was what he hoped to find, but what he hoped to destroy,” Brienne said. “It would be interesting to go through the library’s database and see if there are any books that deal directly with The Kraken or with the Greyjoys.”

“If he wanted to destroy the library, why not bomb the place? That’s what I’d do—just take the whole place down.”

Selmy looked uncomfortable. “The Kraken left rather suddenly and without achieving his goal, and the last man out claimed he had a bomb.” He reached for his phone. “Blount! We need a bomb squad at the library ASAP!”

Slynt barked into his radio, “Bywater! Get everyone out of the building now! There’s a chance our asshole friend left a surprise package!”

Brienne took advantage of the resulting chaos to disappear. She half-expected Jaime to be lurking somewhere waiting for her when she left the library, but to her surprise he wasn’t there. She went to her shed without incident, then her office, and then home.

She took a long shower, letting the hot spray work on the ache in her shoulder. When she got out, she dressed in a KLU t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants, ordered Pentoshi takeout, and settled in for the night.

Her first order of business was to email The Librarian with the latest update and to request yet again that he look through the blasted books for anything that might help. _He’s escalating, and who knows how many he’ll take out next time_ , she wrote.

**Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something without a clue of what it is you’re looking for? That’s why the database was created in the first place.**

_Gee, makes you wonder how people ever did any research without computers._

**Exactly! Will try to find something, but don’t expect miracles.**

Brienne didn’t know why she bothered with sarcasm. The Librarian must’ve had his sense of humor removed at birth. She was tempted to respond to his last comment but decided to let it go for now.

Selmy had sent her a message berating her for leaving the scene without informing anyone where she was going and letting her know that the library had been declared bomb-free. Irritated, she still managed to send a diplomatic reply that there wasn’t anything more she could’ve done and promising to keep the lines of communication open.

Her dinner arrived and she decided she would take enough of a break to enjoy her dinner with an episode of a goofy old show, _Galladon’s Island_ , that she’d watched with her father as a girl. She sent him a text message to let him know what was on. He sent a quick reply that he was watching the episode, too. She smiled and devoured her takeout with an appetite she hadn’t had for a while.

As she finished the last bite, Brienne bit back a sigh and knew her brief respite was over. She opened up her laptop and did some random searches in the wild hope that she’d find something. Nothing. She even did a Google search on previous Air Elementals, wondering idly why an entity called The Kraken had ended up with such a power. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for a kraken to be a Water Elemental?

Her phone went off with a message—not the siren, thank the gods. She checked it and saw that it was from Sansa.

 _Busy tonight? We’re making up for Wednesday!_ She sent a picture along with the message of her and Margaery, all dressed up and at a bar somewhere in the city.

Brienne’s heart gave a small tug. Right now, she longed for a fun night out more than she ever had when things were normal for her. She wanted a night where she could lose herself in drinks and laughs with her best friends, and when this was all over—presuming she survived it—she intended to make things up to them.

 _Wish I could, but…._ Brienne wasn’t sure what excuse she could give. Finally, she wrote, _…maybe another night. Have fun. Love you guys._

An entire line of crying emojis met her response. Brienne set her phone aside and went back to work. She knew Selmy was right. The Kraken was escalating, and who knew what he’d do next.


	8. Part VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part VIII: In which The Kraken strikes at a confusing target, and Jaime and Brienne have a moment in a stairwell. Brienne really wishes she hadn't been in her Evenstar suit at the time.

Saturday night, the gang broke into half the antique stores in King’s Landing, leaving destruction in their wake but fortunately no casualties. Brienne slept through the whole thing as there was nothing she could’ve done by the time the robberies were discovered, anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*

Sunday afternoon, The Kraken suddenly appeared at Blackwater Rush, looking like he was standing on the water as he used the wind to stir up the waters to such a frenzy that boats began capsizing. Brienne rushed across town to stop him and nearly drowned when his burst of wind pushed her underwater. Only the fact that she was an excellent swimmer, the product of her summers spent on Tarth, saved her. The Kraken, believing he’d succeeded in killing her, turned his attention to an approaching yacht.

From under the pier where she’d taken refuge, Brienne looked for something she could use to distract him and save the yacht, because someone on that thrice-damned thing apparently had a death wish. She had difficulty hearing—her suit was bulletproof but not waterproof, so her ears were clogged with water—but she recognized the tone of voice and someone was definitely taunting The Kraken.

Two piers over, she spotted a pair of buoys waiting to be placed back out on the larger bay. She thought briefly about using telekinesis to hurl them, but she still feared she didn’t have the strength to do it even though using it for larger objects was easier on her ability. She swam underneath the two piers and paused just long enough to find out what was going on.

The Kraken was toying with the yacht for some reason, only creating enough of a stir for the vessel to spin round and round in rapid circles. He laughed and yelled something Brienne still couldn’t quite catch, but his back was to her and that was what she needed. She scaled up one of the wooden pilings as quickly as she could, checked where The Kraken and the yacht were. The Kraken had stopped spinning the boat. She wasn’t certain, but she thought she saw whoever was clinging to the railing look her way.

 _No!_ she wanted to shout at him. _Don’t give my position away!_

She had no time to lose. Brienne grabbed the first buoy and, using the method she’d been taught from her days as a discus thrower for the track team, hurled it toward The Kraken. She grabbed the second one before the first one landed, knowing she wouldn’t have another opportunity if she didn’t throw it now.

The first buoy came close to him but missed. He stared at the buoy’s loud splash into the bay, putting him directly in the path of the second buoy. It crashed into The Kraken with enough force to send him flying. He landed in the water nearly fifty feet away from the yacht. Brienne ran to a pier closer to where The Kraken had ended up, hoping that she’d gotten lucky. She’d reached the end when the wind whipped around and The Kraken rose from the water. He lifted a hand and Brienne braced for the impact, only the burst of wind didn’t come. The Kraken looked at his hand as though it were the problem, then pointed at her. Again, nothing happened.

 _His ability to summon the wind is diminished when he’s injured_ , Brienne realized.

Brienne decided to take the risk of telekinetically throwing one of the buoys at him, but before she could, The Kraken clearly decided to cut his losses and disappeared into the wind.

With The Kraken gone, sailors in the Royal Fleet began searching for boats that had been sent flying during the attack. Closer to the pier, Gold Cloaks worked to pull people out of the water who had been thrown overboard without lifebelts. And out of the corner of her eye, Brienne saw two figures in a life raft. A crowd formed at the dock that the raft drifted toward, and Brienne joined them.

In all the havoc, she hadn’t recognized the yacht whose passengers had distracted The Kraken. However, she definitely recognized one of the two figures in the boat as it sailed into the dock.

Jaime spotted her at once and gave her a bright smile.

Brienne turned on her heel and stalked off before she could throw a buoy at _him_.

~*~*~*~*~*

Monday morning, the gang attempted to break into the Red Keep, where King Brandon X Stark lived. They were foiled by a pack of decidedly determined crows, who swooped in and drove them off within minutes. It was presumed they were attempting to assassinate His Grace, and security measures were tightened.

 _What, they brought in more birds?_ Brienne wondered when she got the report from Selmy.

~*~*~*~*~*

Late Tuesday afternoon, the gang, disguised as ballpark staff, snuck into one of the luxury suites at Martell Memorial Stadium, where the Lannisport Lions were scheduled to take on the King’s Landing Wildfire in the second of a three-game series. People in the luxury suites were allowed entry into the ballpark two hours before game time, the better to get an early start on their hangovers the next day as the beer was free and unlimited.

Although Prime Minister Baratheon wasn’t much of a fan of baseball—he preferred the brawling style of football—he owned a luxury suite because he wanted to be known as a patron of all the local sports teams. He often loaned out his suite to friends and people who he wanted favors from. Occasionally, he got talked into loaning it out for a charitable cause.

One of those causes had been a raffle raising money for a new statue of Brandon I Stark, the primary sponsor of King’s Landing University at its inception who had also designed the godswood that dominated one corner of the campus. The raffle winner had been Addam Marbrand, an alumnus of the school who lived in The Reach but was originally from Lannisport.

Addam and his party of five arrived two hours before game time, because why waste money in the bars around the stadium when drinks were free in the luxury suite? Everyone was well into their second beer when the gang dropped their disguises and took them hostage.

Those who did not have luxury suite tickets were allowed into the ballpark ninety minutes before the game began. This group included one Brienne Tarth, season ticket holder of box seats who decided to take one night off to enjoy a game. When she got the notification that the Kraken Gang was in the stadium, she thought, _I really should’ve known better._

Short a suit, Brienne purchased a ski mask in the team store, accosted a security guard, and stole his uniform. (She later sent the man a ball autographed by the legendary Brynden Tully.) Dressed in this makeshift disguise, she entered the suite next to the Prime Minister’s, with which it shared a seating area. She took the heaviest chair she could find and used it to break the window of the suite. She took advantage of the gang’s surprise to strip them of their weapons in rapid succession by using telekinesis. One of them thought to take her on but was quickly disabused of the notion by one of the members of Addam’s party, who had played baseball in college and remained in excellent shape.

Somehow, Brienne hadn’t been surprised that Jaime hadn’t hesitated to wade into the fray to help her out. She said nothing to him, mostly because she didn’t have her voice disguiser with her, but even if she’d been fully dressed as The Evenstar, she wasn’t sure she could trust herself not to say something

By the time the Kraken Task Force arrived on scene, Brienne was sitting in her seat behind the home team’s dugout, wearing her Tarth Islanders jersey and jeans and anxiously wondering if they were going to receive a visit from The Kraken. But no such visit occurred, and the game was only delayed by half an hour.

~*~*~*~*~*

Late Wednesday night, someone attempted to burn down King’s Landing University’s library. They were foiled by, of all things, another crime going on. An investigator from Dorne named Obara Sand had traced a smuggling ring to one of the art professors on campus. She’d just arrested the professor when she spied three men with gas cans trying to break into the building. Rather than wait for the locals, she tried to stop the arson in progress. The three men got away, but as Obara said to the Kraken Task Force later, at least she got her art professor.

The Kraken Gang’s involvement was unconfirmed, but most people assumed they were behind it given the prior attack on the Tarly Library. And neither Brienne nor the Kraken Task Force believed in coincidences.

~*~*~*~*~*

Thursday at noon, the alarm sounded on Brienne’s phone while she was in the middle of doing her weekly grocery shopping. She grabbed her phone and read the message.

_Hostage situation, King’s Landing City Museum. Shots fired, two people injured, Kraken Task Force headed to the scene. Kraken Gang reported involved. Unknown if Kraken is on site. Please respond._

“For the Seven—why would The Kraken Gang be interested in _that_ place?” Brienne said out loud as she sent a response, abandoned her cart, and hurried off.

~*~*~*~*~*

The City Museum wasn’t the typical stodgy establishment most thought of when they heard the word _museum_. Founded by an eccentric philanthropist, the City Museum was part museum, part jungle gym, and completely enchanting. The highlight of anyone’s day was the chaos that reigned primarily on the first floor. People climbed stairs and walls, climbed through tunnels and caves and over and under tree limbs, and finally made it to the top, where a ten-story slide waited to take them back down to start all over again. Set up for “kids of all ages,” Brienne tended to refer to the first floor and subsequent tunnels, stairs, and slides that could be found almost anywhere throughout the building above it as a “life-sized Chutes and Ladders,” because that seemed as apt a description as any other.

If people were searching for a museum at the City Museum, the second floor was the closest they would come to finding it. The founder had donated most of the things he’d collected on his world travels to get the museum up and running. While the people who had assisted in sorting through this grumbled that what he’d donated was junk, there were enough oddities in with the junk to start a collection. Old wooden swords, pictures that had probably hung above taverns or inns but couldn’t be authenticated and/or held little historical value, odd-looking old horns, that sort of thing. Over time, the museum curator added a special section with a collection of “Westeros’s Largest” items, which included the largest pencil, the largest replica sword modeled after a legendary Valyrian steel broadsword called Ice, and for some reason, the country’s largest pair of underpants.

There were several more floors with varying levels of public access along with varying levels of weird things to be found, and at the top of the building was what was affectionately known as “The Carnival.” Most of what was up there continued on the themes of the lower floors—jungle gyms that were practically impossible to find your way out of once you’d gotten in, long and bumpy slides, and weird things like the old school bus that was half hanging over the edge of the roof. And in the midst of all this chaos, a traditional Ferris wheel.

The museum was across the street from KLU, so Brienne hadn’t had too far to go once she changed into her suit. By the time she got there, the Gold Cloaks were assisting in getting people out of the museum. _That’s a good sign,_ she thought.

Then she looked over at where the leaders of the Kraken Task Force stood and bit back a groan. Slynt looked his usual surly self, Selmy looked more grave than usual, and standing between them was the tall, heavyset, dark-haired Prime Minister of Westeros, Robert Baratheon.

 _That’s not a good sign._ Everyone knew Robert Baratheon was little more than a figurehead and that Tywin Lannister was the real power behind the government, but apparently Baratheon decided to pick today to stick his nose into this mess.

Slynt noticed her first and waved her over. “This man is making less and less sense,” Slynt said angrily. “Restaurants? Marinas? Museums? What next? A day care? Hospital?”

“How about we not give him ideas,” Baratheon said in his booming voice. “How about we work this problem and catch this son of a bitch today?”

Brienne looked at Selmy, who nodded respectfully at his boss. Slynt muttered under his breath, “You can tell it’s election time, can’t you?”

She managed not to snort, but it was a close call.

“We don’t have time to figure out his motives,” Selmy said. “We just have to figure out how to get the rest of the people out of there.”

Brienne asked, “How many are in there?”

Selmy said, “Not sure. We finally got through to one who could talk, and he agreed to let most of them go. That’s them now. But we know for a fact that there’s still a group of seven they’re hustling up to the roof. Two young girls and what looks to be their mom, three teenage boys, and…”

“…and everyone’s favorite professor of history at King’s Landing University,” Slynt said with a sneer. “At a Kraken crime scene. Again.”

Brienne allowed herself five seconds to scream inwardly at Jaime yet again, then set it aside. Emotions would do her no good. _Focus, Brienne. Focus._ “Outside,” she murmured. “So, The Kraken himself isn’t here yet?”

“No,” Slynt said shortly. “What makes you think he will be? He hasn’t been seen since Sunday. Maybe that little stunt you pulled with the buoys killed him.”

 _I’d like to see you try that ‘little stunt,’_ Brienne thought, irritated. _Even if you could’ve picked up one of the buoys, you probably couldn’t have thrown it more than a foot._

“If he’s dead, then what are these idiots doing here?” Baratheon asked. “Cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body dies with it.”

“Where are they at now?” Brienne asked, knowing there would be cameras all over the museum to track them.

Slynt muttered something into his radio, listened, then said, “Two of them are ransacking Ossifer’s Oddities on the second floor. The other three are moving the hostages. They’re trying to avoid the cameras by sticking to the east stairs, but they were spotted on the fourth floor a minute ago. The sixth one is talking with Oakheart.”

“Why don’t they use the elevators?” Baratheon asked. “Get the hostages to the roof that much faster?”

“They took out the elevators first thing,” Selmy replied. “The gang overtook security and cut power to the whole building.”

Brienne focused her attention on the roof. She could make out the Ferris wheel and the largest of the outdoors slides. There was the bus hanging partially off the side.

_I can’t let them get to the roof. Whoever is left will be dead in seconds. Jaime will be—_

“Fourth floor,” she murmured.

“All right,” Selmy said. “Let’s look at this from a standpoint of…”

Brienne took off running. She heard the shouts of the three men she’d left behind but did not heed their commands to come back. The Kraken was coming, and there was no time to lose. Two of the Gold Cloaks who had been helping direct people out of the museum put up a token attempt to stop her, but she pushed past them without a backward glance (although she later sent prime baseball tickets to the one whose wrist she accidentally sprained when she shoved him out of her way).

Brienne was a frequent visitor to the museum. Jaime had taken her there on her thirtieth birthday as a reminder that she didn’t just have to be young at heart, and they made a point of going every two or three months. She knew that the east staircase ended at the seventh-floor slide. If one wanted to continue to the higher floors, they had to cross the length of the museum there to get to the west stairwell, then back across the museum on the tenth floor to access the ten-story slide and the roof.

She had to assume the gang knew about the anomalies of the museum, so when she entered the building, she headed straight for the west stairwell. She knew that she’d have to cross the length of the museum on the sixth floor and hoped she might be able to catch them there.

The stairwells were designed to resemble caves and caverns, which occasionally meant that tall people ran the risk of hitting their head on a faux stalactite if they weren’t paying attention. Brienne smacked her head on two before she remembered and lowered her head, which slowed her progress but at least kept her from putting an eye out.

She reached the sixth floor and threw open the door that would lead to the main museum floor. Brienne flew across the room to the west stairwell, shoved the door open and looked up just as gunfire erupted above her. Two bullets hit her left shoulder before she reached out telekinetically to take the gun away from him. Realizing he was defenseless, the man turned and ran into the museum’s seventh floor. Brienne ran after him.

When she opened the door, she found that the gang members had stopped in the middle of the room, waiting for her. One of them had a handgun pointed at the smallest of the hostages, a girl who looked no older than four. The other armed man pointed his rifle at the rest of the group.

Brienne was in a conundrum. She’d never attempted to grab more than one thing at a time with her mind, so no matter which gun she went for, someone was going to wind up dead.

Brienne looked at the little group of hostages—the other young girl, a terrified-looking pregnant woman who had to be their mom, three teenage boys, and Jaime. Jaime’s hands were tied behind his back, the only one who was restrained in such a way.

_Focus, Brienne._

She looked away from Jaime and back to the gang members. The gang member who had his gun on the girl gave her a vicious smile and put a hand around the girl’s mouth. The one who she’d disarmed held up five fingers. _Countdown._ Five…four…three…

The man holding the little girl let out a sudden cry of pain and backed away from her. In the split second when he was distracted, Brienne reached out to take the rifle away from the man pointing it at the rest of them, then easily plucked the gun from the man whose hand was close to his chest. The little girl had bitten one of his fingers hard enough to draw blood.

With her mind, Brienne threw the guns clear across the museum. The three men looked at each other, as Brienne stepped closer, knowing they were likely the next ones to go flying. The one with the bitten finger ran immediately, but the other two shoved Jaime into Brienne. Brienne was caught off guard and Jaime was a bit heavier than he looked, and his weight sent them sprawling to the ground as the men escaped. Brienne lifted Jaime off her easily and headed off after them, but they had too good a head start.

By the time she reached the roof, she heard the familiar sound of the whistling wind indicating The Kraken had arrived. He noticed her at once, then looked over at the three gang members who signaled to him for rescue, then back to her. She wondered if he had recovered from his injuries at the marina.

She wasn’t sure if her question was answered when he disappeared as quickly as he arrived, the gust of wind carrying him off being strong enough to knock the three men off the edge of the roof but not enough to knock her off her feet.

Brienne waited another minute to see if he would return, then headed back downstairs. When she reached the seventh floor, she saw that the six of the seven hostages had had the good sense to flee.

And then there was Jaime, who still sat on the ground where she’d tossed him, smiling at her when she appeared.

Brienne was going to kill him. She would no doubt be sent to the depths of the seven hells by the gods when she died for killing one of their finest examples of manhood, but she didn’t care. “What are you doing here?” Brienne asked.

Jaime’s amusement didn’t fade. “Right now, I’m being a hostage. Or I was a hostage, but now I’m not, thanks to you. Before that, I was a having fun clowning around with those teenage boys—who are my second cousins, by the way, so thanks for rescuing them—and…”

“I’m a superhero and I have to save you from danger every second night. Now are you really unlucky or are you doing it on purpose?” she snapped.

The amusement faded from Jaime’s face. “You don’t rescue me from danger all the time—in fact, I seem to recall that the other day at the marina, I saved _you_.”

“Oh, please! All you did was run your mouth, which you do all the damned time! Do you know how easy it would’ve been for The Kraken to flick his wrist and send you crashing into the side of a building? He could’ve done it in the time it took you to breathe!” She yanked him up from the floor and spun him around so she could work on the knots keeping his hands tied behind his back.

“I provided enough of a distraction that you were able to fire off two buoys at him. If he’d seen you, _you_ would’ve been the one hitting the building. Despite what you want the world to believe, you are _not_ impervious! You’ve been hurt—I’ve seen it!” Jaime shouted angrily.

Brienne managed to undo the first knot easily enough, but the second one was proving tricky. “‘Impervious?’ Did you come up with that word on the spot or did you have to look it up ahead of time and find a perfect setting to use it?” she asked.

Jaime turned his head and glared at her. “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a complete idiot. I have the doctorate to prove it.”

“I’m sure they gave it to you just to shut you up,” she muttered under her breath as she turned her focus back to this blasted knot. “Speaking of which, aren’t you supposed to be on sabbatical? You should be off…doing whatever the hells it is…teachers do on sabbatical. Studying stuff and whatnot.” It was hard to make it sound like she didn’t have the first clue about what Jaime was doing. “If I were able to take a sabbatical, I would be using it to my advantage.”

_Gods, am I really encouraging him to do research on superheroes? Was that what my life has come to?_

“Do superheroes get to take sabbaticals? What happens to them when they get too old to do superhero duties? Is there a retirement home for superheroes?” Jaime asked, turning his entire body.

Brienne wondered if she could get some duct tape for his mouth. Trust Jaime Lannister to ask questions for his rotten book right after he’d nearly been killed by a nefarious gang working for the most terrifying villain she’d ever encountered.

“I’ll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Lannister, next Saturday,” she muttered under her breath. “Now turn around and hold still so I can get these knots untied.

Jaime turned his back to her. “I appreciate it. I don’t know if you’ve ever been tied up, but it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world unless you consent to it.”

Ignoring the spark of arousal from the implication that Jaime might enjoy being tied up in other circumstances, she continued working on the second knot.

“I thought you could do something like this telekinetically,” he said.

“I prefer to save my efforts for when they’re needed. This doesn’t qualify,” she replied. She finally figured out the trick of the second knot and loosened it. “You know you’re going to get flak from Slynt about being here. Probably from Selmy, too. And you should know that Robert Baratheon’s out there.”

“Shit,” Jaime muttered under his breath. “Was my father with them?”

“No, but I wouldn’t expect him to be. Too high a risk to his personal safety to be in the crosshairs of The Kraken.” The final knot came undone. She eased the rope off and tossed it aside. She noticed that his wrists were rubbed raw from where he’d tried to break free. “We need to get going.” She didn’t wait for him but started toward the stairwell.

They’d made it down one floor when she heard him say, “Thank you. I mean it, Evenstar. Thank you for—”

She stopped and looked at him. “It’s what I do,” Brienne said, feeling tired all of the sudden. Maybe there was something to Jaime’s suggestion that she take a sabbatical. She’d been taking care of King’s Landing for fifteen years—almost half her life. She’d never taken a vacation. The closest things to vacations she’d had were the rare weekends she visited with Sansa’s family in Winterfell, and she couldn’t think of the last time she’d made it up there.

Brienne remembered her father telling her long ago that if she wasn’t careful when it came to fighting crime, she’d bring herself to the point of burnout. She wondered what would happen if that happened.

She wondered if it already had.

“Come on,” she said. “Forensics will need to come in, and you’ll have another statement to make, and…”

Brienne had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Jaime move closer to her until he touched her cheek. There wasn’t much skin bared in the suit, but he managed to find the one part that was. In the dim light of the mock cavern stairwell, he leaned up and in and kissed her. It was tentative, searching, uncertain. It wasn’t the type of kiss she would’ve expected from Jaime, but at the same time, it was. He was asking permission with this kiss, and the part of Brienne that had yearned for this since the day they’d met wanted to give him that permission. But she couldn’t.

_I can’t let this happen._

Then Jaime’s tongue set out to explore the seam of her lips. When she gasped at the sensation, he slid inside, and oh gods, it felt like every dream she’d had about kissing him only ten times better, because it was _real_. Jaime was here, now, kissing her, and she wanted to kiss him back so finally she did, kissed him with fervor and intent and meaning, only he would never know the true meaning because he wasn’t kissing Brienne.

Jaime wasn’t kissing Brienne, because he didn’t know she was here. He was kissing The Evenstar. He wanted to kiss The Evenstar and he’d never wanted to kiss Brienne, not once in all the years they’d known each other. If Jaime knew that behind this mask was the same person he’d teased about drooling on him the one time she’d accidentally fallen asleep on his shoulder, he’d be…he’d be repulsed.

_I have to stop this._

Jaime’s hands were moving now, from her cheeks to her neck to the base of her neck, where her hood met her suit. His hands were under the hood now, ooh, his fingertips on the sensitive skin of her throat, thumbs slowly sliding it up…

She pulled away from him, a feeling of betrayal unlike anything she’d felt before running through her. “No!” she cried.

“I’m sorry,” Jaime babbled. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…I mean, I want to know, but this isn’t how I want to find out. I mean, I didn’t kiss you just to get a look at you, I didn’t even mean to kiss you, because there’s someone else and she’s amazing and anyway…”

Brienne didn’t know what was worse: that Jaime had kissed her when she was The Evenstar, that he just told her he hadn’t meant to kiss her, or that there was someone else in his life. Someone he’d obviously met in the past three weeks or else she would know all about her. Maybe this woman was the reason he’d been incommunicado. “I think I get it,” she said.

“But I don’t want you to think that I was trying to find out who you are by seducing you. I’m not that kind of guy. I just…”

“You got carried away,” Brienne said dully. “You thought we were going to die. It’s a natural reaction. I understand.”

_I understand that you just gave me the kiss of my life and now you’re saying you didn’t mean to do it. I understand that you’ve met someone who isn’t me, because they’re never me._

“No, that’s not it—I mean, I—”

The door to the stairwell one floor down from them opened, and to her relief, she saw Officer Podrick Payne. “Thank the gods you’re all right, Evenstar,” he said. He glanced at Jaime. “You again?”

“That’s what I said,” she murmured.

“C-Commander Slynt won’t be happy to see you.”

“I said that, too,” Brienne said, although she wondered if he meant her or Jaime. Probably both.

His radio squawked, and Officer Payne said into it, “I found them, Commander! We’re coming down the east stairwell now.” He looked back at Brienne and smiled. Still missing that tooth, she noted. “We’d better go. There’s rumors that The Kraken will be back soon.”

 _No, he won’t,_ Brienne thought as she and Jaime followed the young man, who filled her in on the rest of the details. The two members of the Kraken Gang who had ransacked Ossifer’s Oddities had disappeared in the mad rush of others escaping the building, and gods only knew _what_ they’d gotten away with because no one had been paying attention. Two of the three men who had gotten to the roof had been found dead, but the third had fallen into the adult ball pit set up outside the museum and was still alive. They were the only fatalities as the two people shot upon the gang’s entrance were reportedly in good condition at the hospital. Injuries from people escaping the museum weren’t as bad as originally feared.

When they reached the main lobby of the museum, they found that forensics was already starting their work with Slynt, Selmy, and Robert Baratheon looking on. Slynt spotted them first and stalked over to them. Selmy was fast on his heels.

“You!” he yelled, pointing a finger at her. “Don’t you _ever_ fucking go into a situation without my authority ever again!”

“Your _authority?”_ Brienne asked, keeping her voice level. “Last time I checked, my cloak was yellow, not gold, so I don’t work for you.”

“Evenstar, you have to admit that when you bypass us, we run the risk of—” Selmy attempted to intervene.

“As far as I’m concerned, the minute you step onto my crime scene, you’re either working for me or you’re a _fucking_ criminal. Next time you pull a stunt like this, I’ll haul your ass in jail and leave you there!” Slynt was close enough that the spit flying from his mouth nearly landed on her.

Brienne’s frayed nerves finally snapped. She laughed derisively. “Good luck finding a jail that’ll hold me,” she said. “I can bend titanium bars like they’re spaghetti noodles, and even if I couldn’t, I’m a _fucking_ telekinetic. I can pop the lock on any cell you put me in faster than you could put me in it!”

Not entirely true, but _that_ was a secret someone who’d never worn a superhero suit needed to know.

Slynt looked ready to shoot her where she stood (not that that would do him any good, but hells, she’d take one for the team if it got him fired) when a large hand grabbed Slynt’s shoulder and hauled him back. Robert Baratheon looked over at Brienne.

“Commander Slynt, Evenstar, I think we can all agree that everyone’s on edge because of this bastard,” Baratheon said. “But yelling at each other doesn’t solve anything. Sowing dissention is what he thrives on. We need to pull together to get him, which means if we aren’t all on the same page, we’ll never succeed.”

 _How many cliches were in that speech?_ Brienne wondered. She glanced over at Jaime, who was discreetly rolling his eyes.

Slynt glared at Baratheon, then at Brienne, before finally nodding his head. He then turned his attention to Jaime. “This is getting to be a bad habit, Mr. Lannister. Care to tell me what you’re doing hanging around yet another of The Kraken’s crime scenes?”

“It’s _Doctor_ Lannister, and the last time I checked, the museum was open to everyone who can pay the fifteen-dragon fee to enter,” Jaime said. “I promised my cousins a day out, and this is what they picked.”

“Your cousins? Where are these _cousins_ now?”

It must have just occurred to Jaime that he’d lost track of the boys because his face went pale. “Uh…”

“They were the boys you saw on the video,” Selmy replied. “Prime Minister Baratheon confirmed that they were Martyn, Willem, and Tyrek Lannister.”

“Don’t worry, Jaime,” Baratheon said. “I called your father, and he arranged for a car service to get the boys home. They’re fine.”

Jaime nodded his thanks.

“Try to see things from our perspective, Dr. Lannister,” Selmy said. “You’ve turned up at six of The Kraken’s crime scenes. No one else has been at more than three. At one of those crime scenes, your dinner companion was killed. You’ve been taken hostage at two others. So either you’re in on this with The Kraken, or…”

“I have explained my presence at every crime scene,” Jaime said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know The Kraken, and I pray to the gods I never will. I…”

Selmy’s words sent something pinging in Brienne’s mind. Something about the night of the restaurant robbery had bothered her, but she hadn’t had much of a chance to think about it because of everything else that had happened since then.

_“Come out, come out, wherever you are!...I know you’re here somewhere! Come out now before I kill your little friend!”_

Why had The Kraken said that to her? It made no sense. His goons had already cased the place and had to have told him she wasn’t there when he arrived. She’d arrived at The Dragonpit shortly after he had and hadn’t gotten to The Broken Anvil until he was already on the back terrace. The goons had been with him, so they couldn’t have alerted him to her presence even if they’d known she was there. But his words would indicate that he had thought she _was_ there and hiding from him.

Brienne remembered the look of surprise on The Kraken’s face when she’d stepped onto the terrace and what he’d said to her. _“Come to join my party again, Evenstar?”_

The Kraken hadn’t thought she was there. His words hadn’t been for her.

_He was talking to someone who was hiding from him. Someone who had a friend on the terrace._

_He was talking to Jaime._

Brienne felt a wave of dizziness pass over her, so bad that she swayed on her feet. No. She had to be wrong. Her thoughts didn’t add up. Before Jaime had met Archie Haereg, he hadn’t known anything about The Kraken’s origins or his powers or how he might be defeated. Haereg had had that information and was giving it to Jaime, not the other way around. If anything, it had been a miracle The Kraken hadn’t just killed Haereg the moment he arrived on the back terrace.

But how else did The Kraken’s words make sense? Haereg hadn’t been the one hiding in the bathroom, Jaime had been. Given what Jaime had said about Haereg’s fear of being discovered, it was unlikely that he’d told anyone where he was going for dinner. Jaime had messaged Tyrion, although even there, he’d pointed out that Tyrion only knew Jaime was meeting someone for dinner. Besides, Tyrion would never knowingly place Jaime in danger. Tyrion would do anything for Jaime, possibly even die for him. (And the same was true for Jaime. Brienne envied them that.)

_“I have to save you from danger every second night. Now are you really unlucky or are you doing it on purpose?”_

What if the answer was neither one?

“Jaime’s the target,” Brienne blurted out. She didn’t realize that the discussion had escalated to a shouting match until she spoke and every man in the room stared at her like she’d grown a third eye.

“I’m sorry, what?” Slynt asked.

“We’ve been trying to find a connection, a reason for The Kraken’s strikes. We’ve got one. He’s after Jaime.”

Jaime laughed—an ugly laugh she’d heard only once in their entire friendship, when he’d mocked someone who had mocked her first. “Why the hells would he be after me? Because the original Kraken supposedly lost a swordfight to the Kingslayer in the middle of the Battle of the Mad Queens? Because that’s the only Greyjoy/Lannister connection I can think of over the past several hundred years, and it’s just a rumor.”

“Then how do you explain the fact that when they were robbing places in The Dragonpit, they picked a restaurant that wasn’t busy? Or that The Kraken turned up there instead of one of the others?”

Jaime glared at her, because he hadn’t told them the truth about Haereg.

“You’ve been taken hostage twice, even in a scenario where you should’ve been killed. You said they shot the librarian even after you told them you couldn’t unlock the book safe.”

“Because they were convinced I was lying to save the librarian!” he yelled.

“You have to admit, Evenstar, that does seem to be a bit thin,” Slynt said.

“I’m not in the habit of advertising everywhere I go on social media. Most of the things I’ve done in the past week have been on impulse—in fact, of all the things I’ve done since the robbery at the restaurant, the only one that was planned well in advance was going to the game with my friend Addam on Tuesday. There was no way anyone could’ve known where I was and planned an attack. I’m not the target. Besides, if I were, why wouldn’t he have killed me already?”

 _Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m spinning stories out of thin air,_ Brienne thought.

“The Evenstar may be on to something,” Selmy said. “Although the target may not actually be Dr. Lannister, but rather his father. Everyone knows that Tywin…” He broke off with a guilty look at his Baratheon. “…has the ear of our Prime Minister, here. If someone wanted to take control of the government, what better way than to drive the city into chaos with a series of attacks in general and a strike at one of the major power brokers in particular?”

“Still doesn’t answer Lannister’s question,” Slynt replied. “Why hasn’t The Kraken just killed him already?”

Brienne was glad she hadn’t gotten a chance to eat lunch, or it would be on the floor at her feet now. “If they kill Jaime in casual fashion, like shoot…shooting him when he goes out to get the mail, or in a car bombing or some such, then it doesn’t get the world’s attention. Someone else could claim later that they were responsible for it,” she said, her voice barely audible. “You kidnap him and kill him where the world can see that you’re the one responsible, then you gain fear. If the great Tywin Lannister’s family can’t be kept safe from the whims of a madman, what chance do ordinary people have?”

Jaime shook his head in disgust. “This is insane,” he muttered. “He’s an _Elemental_. He lives to create chaos. That’s what they do! That’s why some of his targets haven’t made any sense, like the marina and the baseball game—although I’ll bet The Kraken thought you were going to be there, Prime Minister, as it’s your luxury suite.”

Selmy looked at Jaime suspiciously. “How do you know about Elementals?” he asked.

Jaime stilled but his eyes darted around the room nervously.

“The only people who should know about Elementals are in this room,” Slynt said. “That fact hasn’t been released to the public. So how did _you_ know about them?”

“Jaime, I think you’d better answer the question,” Robert Baratheon said.

Jaime let out a sigh. “Archie Haereg provided me with information on The Kraken. The meeting at the restaurant was to provide me with more of it, but he died before we got to talk further.”

“I knew it!” Slynt crowed. “I _knew_ you were hiding something!”

“You thought he was hiding his connection to The Kraken,” Selmy said, not bothering to hide his disgust. “Dr. Lannister, I know I’m likely to catch all seven hells for this, but I have to insist you be placed in protective custody until we get a handle on The Kraken.”

“You can’t do that,” Jaime said.

“I’m sorry, son, but this is for your own protection.” Selmy looked over at Slynt. “I know the Gold Cloaks are supposed to be responsible for protective custody, but I feel the Kingsguard might be better off taking care of…”

“Oh, no. You’re not robbing me of my chance of slapping handcuffs on this insufferable—”

“Commander Slynt! You will treat the _protected_ _witness_ with respect!” Robert Baratheon shouted.

Slynt looked like he’d rather chew on Westeros’s largest pair of underwear, but he nodded curtly. He grabbed Jaime’s upper arm in a none-too-gentle grip and led him away. As they passed Brienne, Jaime gave her a look of pure betrayal.

_I’m sorry, Jaime, but Selmy’s right. You’re safer in protective custody than you would be anywhere else._

~*~*~*~*~*

Friday came and went with all King’s Landing braced for The Kraken’s worst, but nothing happened. In a way, Brienne felt that was worse than the entire week that had preceded it had been, because all she could think of that day was what The Kraken might be planning next.

Brienne checked in with Selmy, who had no further reports on The Kraken. He reported that according to Slynt, Jaime was being a surly asshole and if Slynt had to take one more phone call from Tywin Lannister’s people, he was chucking Jaime in Blackwater Bay for The Kraken to get. But otherwise, Jaime was fine.

Brienne still didn’t feel reassured. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, Brienne took a Xanax to help her fall asleep that night.

She needed to be well rested, because tomorrow was graduation day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can add this now that the reveal is over! In case you were wondering about the King's Landing City Museum, it's modeled after a real museum in St. Louis that is as wacky as I've described it: https://www.citymuseum.org
> 
> And yes, there really is an exhibit that includes the world's largest pair of underwear. I couldn't have made that up if I tried.


	9. Part IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part IX: In which King's Landing University's graduation ceremony begins, and we learn exactly why Brienne's taken a serious dislike to skylights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, everyone, the KLU graduation ceremony is about to begin, and it's going to be rough. If this is something that might trigger you, but you want to read the story after the ceremony is over, you can pick up the story again at chapter 12. I'll provide a brief summary for you before the chapter begins so you'll know what you missed.

On Saturday morning, Brienne woke up from a nightmare with the sound of The Kraken’s cackling in her ears. Her heart pounded, she felt like she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs no matter how hard she tried, and her sheets were damp with sweat. Even though the sun was shining through her bedroom window, she still felt enveloped in darkness.

She checked the clock on her bedside table—eight-thirty. She cursed the Xanax she’d taken the night before. Graduation began at eleven and now she’d have to hustle to get there with some time to spare to give the building a once-over before the ceremony began. Brienne dragged herself out of bed and into the shower, hoping the heat would chase the chill of her nightmare away. She stood under the hot, luxurious spray and waited. And waited. And when that didn’t work, she tried using her eucalyptus mint body wash to calm her down, which didn’t work either.

All Brienne could focus on was her nightmare. She’d been forced to watch helplessly as The Kraken killed Jaime over and over again. Roasting him alive in armor while she strangled herself trying to get to him, her powers useless to grab the sword just in front of her. Chopping off his hand and tying it around his neck, then laughing as Jaime bled to death. Throwing them both into a bear pit with an enraged bear, with only a sparring sword to keep them alive. Jaime hanging from a tree beside her, a rope around his neck, as her own life was choked out of her. Just thinking about it now made Brienne sink to the floor of her shower, tears slipping down her cheeks to join the water streaming from the shower above her.

After losing her father, this had always been her deepest fear. If something attacked Selwyn, he had the ability to protect himself even if it came at the risk of his life. Her friends did not. Brienne didn’t pray to the gods often, but when she did, it was always for the safety and wellbeing of her friends. She hadn’t wanted them to get mixed up in her other life. She told lies to keep them ignorant, to keep them safe.

And because of this, she’d always felt there was a small divide between them. She’d felt that with all the friendships she’d made over the years. Being a superhero was such a huge part of her life and she couldn’t share it with them. As she sat in her shower, Brienne wondered if she’d ever been a true friend to anyone in her life. She wondered if she would turn into her father when her time came to retire as The Evenstar, or even if she would be able to retire. She was nearly thirty-four and it wasn’t like there were any romantic prospects on the horizon for her to procreate with. The Evenstar title would die out with her.

Brienne realized she was focusing on the wrong thing. She had to set aside her anguish and her fear and concentrate on how she was going to keep The Kraken from killing Jaime, because she was now convinced that strange as it seemed, that was part of what he was here to do.

The water was cold, and she was shivering again. She turned off the water and climbed out of the shower, wrapping herself in her warmest robe. She put on her smartwatch and checked the time: nine-twenty. She went to the kitchen and made coffee. Rather than doctoring it with a lot of milk like she usually did, she drank it black to keep it as hot as possible. She ate a slice of toast, knowing she wouldn’t be able to stomach any more than that.

When it came to her outfit, Brienne decided not to take any chances. She put on her Evenstar suit, then slipped into a pair of black dress pants to cover her legs and provide her with pockets to stick her hood and mask in. Her academic robes would cover most of the rest, so as long as no one asked her to take off her robe. She would be ready for anything that came her way.

Brienne took one last look in the mirror. She looked as tired as she felt. Her lank straw-colored hair was yanked into a knot at the back of her neck. Her blue eyes, which everyone told her were her best feature, looked dull and had dark circles beneath them. Her face was drawn and pale, making the freckles stand out in stark relief. She knew she should make some kind of effort to disguise her restless night, if for no other reason than because Sansa and Margaery would notice and worry, but she couldn’t summon the energy or desire to do so. She’d just say she’d had a bad night’s sleep and hope they let it go at that.

She turned away from the mirror, straightened to her full height, and pulled herself together. It was time to go and face whatever today brought her.

~*~*~*~*~*

Brienne had not been given a vote about whether or not the graduation ceremony should still take place given the current situation with The Kraken. If she had, she decidedly would have voted against it, because why would anyone gather nearly a thousand people together in broad daylight while there was a mad Elemental wreaking havoc on the city?

Traditionally, the school’s graduation ceremony took place in the school’s outdoor Amphitheatre, which seated fifteen hundred people and provided gorgeous views of the campus no matter where one sat. However, after the attempt to burn down the library, KLU’s board of trustees held an emergency meeting to weigh their options. The details of the meeting were secret, but the end result was that the school decided to move the ceremony off-campus. They put out feelers to various facilities that might suit the purpose, but the only one that had availability for the time the needed was Rhaegar Hall, a concert hall on other side of town from the school.

They appealed to Robert Baratheon for extra security in the form of Gold Cloaks. Some of his advisors suggested he not only refuse to provide it but also insist the school postpone the ceremony until after The Kraken had been contained, but he refused. As far as the Prime Minister was concerned, it was a matter of Westerosi pride that major institutions not show fear in the face of evil and tyranny such as The Kraken. He commended the university for coming up with a plan and pledged enough Gold Cloaks for the job.

“Does Bobby B plan on showing up to display his own Westerosi pride today?” Brienne muttered when she’d gotten the email from the school informing her of the decision and arrangements that had been made.

Brienne had never been to Rhaegar Hall, though she’d been looking at their summer concert schedule before The Kraken’s arrival. After finding out that that was where the graduation ceremony was to be held, she drove to it in hopes of getting a good look at the inside. She’d been shooed away by the Gold Cloaks. She’d almost waved to Officer Payne when she’d seen him among a group of young officers who would be part of the security detail but remembered that he wouldn’t recognize her without her suit.

Brienne sent out a Hail Maiden request to The Librarian to get her the blueprints of the hall and for once got what she requested—late on Friday afternoon. Right off the bat, she didn’t like the skylight. She also didn’t like the large windows on either side of the ground floor, but they worried her less than the skylight in the roof. Windows could provide an impediment to The Kraken’s ability to use his powers. The roof would not. She spent most of the evening poring over them to see what weaknesses she might find, knowing she’d have to be there to truly get the scope of what she might be facing.

She thought she’d allowed herself plenty of time to get to Rhaegar Hall with time to look things over before the crush of people arrived. It had been part of the reason she’d turned down Sansa and Margaery’s offer of a ride to graduation. She heard the concern in Sansa’s voice but had resisted all her efforts to get together to talk about what was going on. (What could she say, anyway? “Sorry I’ve blown you off, I’ve been trying to keep King’s Landing from being blown away?” No.)

However, Brienne pulled into a parking lot at ten-fifteen that was more than half full. With a sinking heart, she knew her chance of getting a complete look at things was very slim. Her time would be spent socializing, schmoozing, and pretending she cared. She grabbed her tam and got out of the car.

She ran into her first graduating student before she got fifty feet. She didn’t remember the student well, but apparently, she’d left a good impression on him because he raved to his mother, who was with him, about how awesome Dr. Tarth’s class on Northern poetry had been.

“I always thought Northern poetry was all about long, dull winters and snow and ice, but she made me see that it was about _connection_ and _longing_ and…and what was the third thing, Dr. Tarth?” he asked.

Brienne struggled to remember the lecture, and then it struck her. “Hope,” she said. “The poems are about hope.”

“Yes! I never got that before, but ever since then, I’ve noticed it. I almost changed my major from business studies to literature because of that class, but…” He glanced at his mother, and Brienne remembered who he was. Robin Arryn. The boy had written one of the best essays she’d ever read. Reading through the lines, she realized why he’d connected so well to Northern poetry.

She noticed he wore the cords indicating that he was graduating summa cum laude. “Best of luck to you, Robin,” she said to him. She nodded politely to his mother and continued on her way.

She ran into several more students who wanted to say something. Some she recognized, some she didn’t, but she made polite but brief conversation with all. She finally reached the main entrance and walked into the building.

The front foyer was packed. Students, parents, and university staff gathered wherever there was room. Brienne noticed a harried-looking Melara Hetherspoon trying to organize the processional lineup by department, while another of her colleagues encouraged parents to head into the main hall so that some space could be made for the graduates. Brienne looked around, automatically searching for Jaime until she remembered that he was still in protective custody.

“Brienne!”

Brienne turned to her left, where Sansa jumped up and down, her hand waving in the air. A second hand, attached to someone not willing to jump in heels, waved also. Brienne smiled and maneuvered her way through the crowd.

“Hey there,” Brienne said to Sansa and Margaery when she reached them at last.

“You look terrible,” Sansa said. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Not really,” Brienne admitted.

“Have you gotten any sleep at all this week?” Margaery asked.

“Not really.”

Sansa sighed. “You’re coming home with us after this is over. You’ve probably been subsisting on sandwiches, potato chips, and endless cups of coffee. You need a good meal and a good night’s sleep, then a good brunch tomorrow.”

“With extra-good Mimosas,” Margaery finished.

Even in her misery, Brienne chuckled. “You know there are more adjectives in our language than ‘good,’ right?”

Sansa smiled at her. “Perhaps. Hey, have you seen Jaime? I thought he was going to be here today.”

Brienne said nothing. The prime minister had somehow kept the news of Jaime being placed in protective custody out of the papers, but she knew from Selmy that Tywin Lannister was already agitating for Jaime to be released into his custody. Tywin argued that he could better protect Jaime than the Gold Cloaks could. Brienne didn’t doubt that he could, but at the same time, she knew that Jaime would rather go through torture than spend any more time in his father’s company than he had to, which is what Tywin would aim for.

“Gods, are the two of you _still_ fighting? I would’ve thought you’d have kissed and made up by now,” Sansa said.

“Sansa…” Brienne’s tone of voice made it clear she didn’t want to talk about this.

“Maybe they wouldn’t have fought at all if they’d kissed a little more,” Margaery murmured just loud enough for Brienne to hear.

“Margaery!” Sansa exclaimed.

“Don’t ‘Margaery’ me. You know as well as I do that—hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Brienne had hoped to sneak away while they argued, but Margaery snagged the sleeve of her gown and tugged her back into place. Brienne cursed the baggy material, because she almost never wore anything easy for someone to grab on to.

“I was…just going to say hello to Dr. Dayne,” she lied.

“He’s in there,” Margaery said, pointing a thumb at the open doors of the main hall. “Helping set up the stage or something. Bug him later. Now, about this thing with Jaime. I have watched you two tap dance around each other for long enough.”

“Do you honestly think this is the right time or place to do this?” Sansa asked.

“IF I COULD HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!” Melara shouted into a bullhorn. Brienne recognized the Gold Cloaks insignia and gave her credit for her ingenuity. Melara repeated herself before the room quieted. “Thank you. At this time, we’d like the family and friends to head into the main room so that we can get the processional organized. If you require special seating, talk to the lady holding that clipboard in the air—see her over there? That’s Amerei. She’ll help you out. Graduates, don’t take off on me. We need to get you in order so we can get started on time! Thank you!”

Margaery turned back to Brienne. “This discussion is _not_ over just because I have to get in there. We will continue it later.”

“How’d you end up here, anyway?” Brienne asked, because she wasn’t aware of any Tyrells graduating today.

“One of the Hightowers actually managed to scrape by with a degree,” Maragery said with a roll of her eyes. “Grandmother insisted that someone be here, and I drew the short straw.” She planted a kiss on Sansa’s cheek. “Our discussion isn’t over, either.” She turned on her ridiculously high heels and sauntered over to Amerei, where she would no doubt talk herself into specialized seating in minutes.

“She’s a force of nature,” Brienne said.

“Yes, she is,” Sansa replied proudly. She looked back at Brienne. “I’m worried about this fight with Jaime. I haven’t heard from him in the last week or so, and that’s not like him. You say you haven’t heard from him, either and that’s even less like him.” Sansa hiked up the hem of her robes and pulled her cell phone from the back pocket of her black jeans.

“What are you doing?” Brienne asked.

“Calling Jaime. Just because he’s pissed off is no reason for him not to be here. He’s got students graduating today, too.” Sansa put her phone to her ear and waited.

Brienne knew she would have a long wait, given where Jaime was right now. She doubted he’d been allowed a phone.

Sansa’s perfect mouth pursed when she realized he wasn’t answering. Brienne heard Jaime’s voicemail message, followed by the beep. “Jaime Tyrek Lannister, you’d better have a damned good explanation for why you’re not at graduation today. ‘Sabbatical’ is not an excuse, especially since I know you’re just sulking in your Fortress of Solitude. Call me the minute you get this. Bye.” Sansa stuck her phone back into her pocket. “Seriously, what’s wrong with him?”

“Wish I knew, and you’re sounding more like your mother every day,” Brienne said. “Whipping out middle names like that.”

“You take that back right now or I’ll never bake you another cookie as long as you live,” Sansa said.

“Speaking of your mom, how’s everybody up at Winterfell?” Brienne hoped Sansa would go along with the change of subject.

“Oh, gods. Mom says she hasn’t been able to get Bran out of his room for like two weeks. Arya got into another scrape with the Night’s Watch and Dad had to bail her out. And she thinks Rickon’s starting his own cult.”

Brienne wasn’t sure if Sansa was testing her with that last one, so she forced a laugh. “Nice to know some things don’t change,” she said.

“No matter how much you might want them to. You know…”

Brienne tuned out as Sansa prattled on. She kept her eyes peeled for anyone who even remotely resembled a member of the Kraken Gang. Anyone who looked shifty or nervous. Anyone who…

_Who am I kidding? The only thing they most of them had in common was that they couldn’t talk, and how am I supposed to figure that out in a room as crowded as this?_

“Professors! I need the professors to the front of the line, please!” Melara called. “Professors, please!”

Brienne’s stomach clenched as she took her place in line behind Sansa. Thanks to her height, she got a glimpse of the interior of the music hall. Mostly what she saw was wood—the warm golden wood of the walls and the darker polished oak wood of the floor.

She bit her lip as Melara finished getting everyone lined up in order. Brienne checked her watch and saw it was almost time. Inside the music hall, the band tuned their instruments. Brienne turned to look at what was behind her and saw nothing but two long lines of young, eager faces waiting to complete the ceremony that marked the end of this phase of their lives.

As the band crashed into the school’s fight song, Sansa leaned over to Brienne and asked, “Are you sure you’re all right? You look like you think disaster’s going to strike at any minute.”

 _You have no idea how right you might be._ Brienne nodded as they waited to walk into the building. Brienne knew she wouldn’t have much time to take in her surroundings unless she wanted to stand out, so she hoped Sansa wouldn’t talk to her the entire way down the aisle.

The front of the line was moving much faster than Brienne anticipated. She barely had time to think about how fast everything was going before she was walking into the hall.

_Focus, Brienne. Focus on what you see._

More wood. The retractable seats that had been pulled out for the day, complete with staircases. The sets of five windows across from the main entrance, with a matching pair directly above it. She looked up quickly to see the dreaded skylight that ran perpendicular to the floor space but lowered her head again before anyone noticed. The twenty rows of chairs on either side of the aisle, fifteen chairs to a row. And at the front of the room the raised stage, the podium, and the table where the diploma covers sat.

Brienne followed Sansa into their row. As she’d expected, Margaery sat in the first row of seats closest to them. She waved at them and held up her phone. Sansa posed but Brienne turned away and faced the stage. Out of the corner of her eye she noted a couple of men in Gold Cloak uniforms, trying to be discreet as the lurked around the perimeter of the room.

Once all of the graduates were in the room and in their assigned rows, the university’s chancellor asked them to be seated. Brienne barely heard what was being said—it was always the same. Boring generic remarks about this being a turning point for them all, that the university had every confidence that they would go on to successful careers, and so on. Chancellor Dustin introduced the motivational speaker for the ceremony, a city councilman who was going to pretend he had something important to say when in actuality he was going to give a stump speech since he was up for reelection next year.

Brienne normally felt a combination of elation and sadness on graduation days, knowing that she wouldn’t see most of the students walking across the stage again while knowing they were leaving for bright new futures. Today, all she felt was dread.

She shouldn’t. By all rights, if Jaime was The Kraken’s target, then him not being here should mean they were safe from any interference today. However, because Jaime’s absence hadn’t been publicized, The Kraken would have every reason to believe Jaime would be here, sabbatical or not. There was also the possibility that they were wrong, and Jaime wasn’t the target. Or that The Kraken might be so far gone that he wouldn’t care.

On stage, the city councilman droned on and on. Was it her, or was it getting colder in here? She felt goosebumps break out over her arms and glanced at Sansa. Sansa’s eyes were glazed over. Brienne suspected if she turned around, she’d see the same expression on everyone else’s faces.

 _Gods, if you don’t see fit to shut this man up, I’m going to get up there and do it myself._ Brienne raised her eyes to the rafters, figuring it would be safe since people might think she was napping. She’d been so focused on the skylight earlier that she hadn’t paid it much attention beyond that. Now that she was able to take her time, she noticed the two catwalks, one on either side of the skylight. And the support beams large enough that someone could walk across them. And the bundle that someone had suspended from one of the rafters near the catwalk closest to the stage.

_What the hells?_

The sound of footsteps running up the aisle interrupted Brienne’s perusal. One of the graduates tore off his robe, revealing an all-black outfit…and a gun. He grabbed the gun, aimed, and shot the city councilman in the chest.

Pandemonium erupted as people scrambled to get out of their seats and find shelter, only to discover their paths blocked by “Gold Cloaks,” who trained their guns on them. Brienne grabbed Sansa’s hand and tried to make a run for the doors behind the stage, but Sansa yanked her hand from Brienne’s grip.

 _“Margaery!”_ Sansa screamed.

Brienne stopped and turned to look at where Margaery had been earlier. As she watched, Margaery hiked up her skirt, climbed over the railing, dropped to the floor, and headed straight for Sansa.

_I can’t wait for them. I have to get out of here. I have to get out so I can come back in as The Evenstar. I have to…_

Sansa and Margaery embraced briefly. Brienne shouted, “Come on!” and pointed at the doors. The stream of students who had discovered the doors already found themselves pinned in by a fresh set of false Gold Cloaks; however, they overpowered them through sheer numbers. Before the Gold Cloaks could get off a shot, they were trampled underfoot by the students. Brienne didn’t have time to see if it was a similar situation at the other exits. She had to get out of here. She had to get Sansa and Margaery safe, and then she had to…

The skylight exploded, sending shards of glass cascading toward everyone in the path. Brienne, Sansa, and Margaery were just clear of the glass, getting close to the doors, when suddenly the doors were blown shut. The wind whipped through the hall, dropping most everyone to their knees. Brienne could have withstood it, but she dropped like everyone else. She looked around to see what she might be able to do to stop The Kraken this time but there were too many people and too many opportunities for something to go wrong with her telekinesis in an enclosed space.

“I believe the children are our future…teach them well and let them lead the way…show them all the beauty they possess inside…”

Brienne looked up to see The Kraken descending from the air, the megaphone Melara had been holding earlier in his hand. Her gaze landed on the bundle suspended in the air. Was it her imagination, or did it look like the bundle was a—

“Give them a sense of pride to make it easier…”

The Kraken dropped gracefully to the ground, his boots crunching the glass underneath. Dressed in the traditional cap and gown of a graduate, he made his way to the stage and stood at the podium, singing the rest of that cheesy Whitney Houston song she’d always hated. When he finished, he pulled out a black horn with gold bands that looked like it had seen better days from underneath his robes and set it on the table beside the podium.

“Good afternoon, boys and girls and everything else in between!” The Kraken laughed. “We are gathered here today to…oops, wrong speech. I apologize for interrupting what I’m sure many of you were looking forward for a long time, but I have a problem and I need your help to solve it. Given that some of the…what was it this jackass said?” He looked down at the councilman and gave him a kick. “Oh, yes! Some of the brightest minds in Westeros are in this room today, so I know you can help me solve it.”

Most of the people who hadn’t been able to get away had quieted down but for a few whimpers and muffled sobs.

“My problem is this annoying so-called superhero, The Evenstar. You might remember him. Tall, so ugly he has to wear a mask all the time, in a light blue suit with a yellow cloak. Thinks he’s strong because the gods gave him a piddly bit of power.” The Kraken looked around the room. “I suspect that some of you know The Evenstar.” He paused. Although Brienne was grateful to be near the door, she would’ve given a lot to be able to see his face. “One of you may _be_ The Evenstar, and if that’s the case…well, I have a gift for you.” He picked up the horn he’d set aside and brought it to his lips.

Brienne gasped, because she realized what he thought that was. She tried to reach out with her mind to pull it away, but it was too late. The Kraken blew the horn.

“What is that?” Sansa asked.

Brienne expected to feel excruciating pain at the sound, but there was none. Instead, she felt as though something was draining from her. Something vital, something that had always been there but was now fading away.

“What was that?” Sansa whispered.

“This, fans and friends, was once owned by a King-Beyond-The-Wall named…Joramun,” The Kraken said, as if he’d heard Sansa’s question. “They call it the Horn of Winter. Legend has it that he blew this horn and awakened giants. People once believed this horn could bring down the almighty Wall in the North. But this horn’s true purpose…is to capture power, not free it. It’s been said the horn kills the power’s owner within hours of hearing it.”

He blew it again. Brienne felt empty. As though she had lost one of her senses.

“If The Evenstar is in this room, and has somehow survived two horn blasts, he is now too incapacitated to help you. Pain is the immediate effect of the horn.” He paused to look around the room. Brienne could just imagine the look on his face. “But for anyone who thinks, ‘maybe another superhero can save us!’” He laughed. “Think again. Once the horn is blown, any superhero who comes near here will feel the effects as though I had just blown it. They’ll experience the unbearable suffering of losing their powers. They’ll die. And if they don’t…they’ll never be anything but a shadow of their former selves.”

 _The City Museum,_ Brienne realized through the haze of emptiness. _The horn was in the godsdamned museum this whole time. How did he figure that out when no one’s been able to find the thing for hundreds of years?_

“You may ask, ‘if you have that horn, why are you here? Why are some of my classmates or friends or family injured? Why do you care about superheroes now that they will soon be obsolete?’ An excellent question, and I commend you for asking! You see, I want the world to see what happens to those who think power and wealth are theirs to command. I want people to remember for generations what happens to those who believe themselves to be above The Elementals. _I want them all, starting with The Evenstar_.

“Some of you are no doubt recording this now on your phones or cameras, thinking I can’t see you! Don’t fear. I admire ingenuity and daring. In fact, I encourage you to stand up so that your recordings will be clear and unmistakable. Stand up. STAND UP!”

Brienne looked as several people rose, recording devices in hand.

“Good. Good. Evenstar! In case you aren’t in this room, you have forty-five minutes to appear here. I have men awaiting you outside, for you’ll feel the effects of the Horn of Winter long before you’re brought into this room. In case a room full of innocent people that I’m more than willing to kill isn’t enough to convince you…” The Kraken raised his hand with a flourish and pointed at something in the ceiling.

_The bundle tied to the rafter. It’s a person. It’s someone._

Sansa gasped, “It’s Jaime! Oh my gods, Brienne, he’s got Jaime!”


	10. Part X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part X: In which Sansa and Margaery reveal some powers of their own, and Brienne gets the chance to do something she's wanted to do for a long time. She's really happy about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: The graduation ceremony continues. As a reminder, it will end at chapter 12 and a brief summary will be provided then.

Brienne wanted to deny Sansa’s words. It couldn’t be Jaime. He was safe in protective custody with the Gold Cloaks, watched over by the greatest Kingsguard of them all, Barristan Selmy. Not even his father, the mighty Tywin Lannister, could get to him.

She wanted to deny what she saw with her own eyes, but it was clearly a person. A person hanging from a harness facing down at the crowd below, rope crisscrossing his body, hands tied behind his back, legs tied together until there was very little of them visible. His feet were bare but from this distance there was nothing remarkable to note (although Brienne knew Jaime had a small tattoo of a crescent moon on his big toe), but the golden curls on his head were unmistakable. The perfect nose was partly covered by the blindfold over his eyes, but Brienne had studied it often enough near and far to recognize it, along with his jaw, and chin, and…

_It’s Jaime. It’s Jaime. It’s Jaime. Selmy lied. He and all the Gold Cloaks and the Kingsguard lied to me, they told me Jaime was safe and he wasn’t. They gave him to The Kraken. Selmy betrayed me. Jaime gods Jaime you were right not to trust them I’m sorry…_

The Kraken laughed. “I imagine a lot of you in here recognize my surprise. Dr. Jaime Lannister tried to send his regards and skip the festivities. I decided it just wouldn’t do for one of King’s Landing University’s finest professors to miss the show, so I talked him into joining us after all.”

“Is he alive?” Margaery whispered. “He doesn’t look alive.”

Brienne wondered the same thing herself, because she noticed that the right side of his head was matted with blood and he wasn’t moving.

“Have no fear, Evenstar. He’s still alive, and at the moment he has all his parts. That could change _very fast_ and it all depends on you.” He pulled out a digital clock out from under the podium—Brienne realized dimly that Chancellor Dustin must’ve left it there for the speaker to keep him from running over—and showed the time as being 11:35 am. “Forty-five minutes—starting _now!”_

The Kraken set the clock on the table and looked around the room. “I’ll bet you’re all wondering what we’ll do while we wait on The Evenstar. I’m a guy who likes to have fun. Waiting around for someone to show—or show their true colors by _not_ showing—is boring.” He motioned to the table of diploma covers. “We gathered here today to celebrate a bunch of people learning shit they’ll never really do much with, so how about we do that?”

“What the fuck?” Brienne heard someone nearby say, but from a distance, as her attention was fully on Jaime.

She couldn’t stop staring at him hanging there from the rafter, body swinging lightly high above where she couldn’t get to him. She didn’t have the ability to undo the hooks or the harness, and any attempt she made would be met with strong resistance from The Kraken.

However, he was under the impression that she wasn’t there or, if she were, that she couldn’t do anything. Plus, he himself was providing a distraction, or trying to, as no one had yet to come forward to collect their diploma.

“Did I crash the wrong party? This isn’t a graduation? Where are all the idiots wanting their pieces of paper saying they learned something?” The Kraken was amused. “You were all so excited to be here today, don’t get shy on me now! Get up here!”

Brienne tore her gaze away from Jaime. From her vantage point behind the stage, she could see most of the room. If she had to guess, she’d say about a third of the people who’d been here earlier had gotten out. Not enough, not nearly enough. Most of the ones who were gone were the family and friends, as the risers were mostly empty while the main floor was packed.

Brienne was torn between wanting the “ceremony” to start and wanting everyone to stay where they were. She feared what they feared—that The Kraken was toying with them and would kill anyone who came forward. She needed that distraction to try and get Jaime free, but not at the risk of anyone else’s life.

 _“Get in line!”_ The Kraken shouted. “If you’re wearing a fucking robe and don’t look like you’re on death’s door, get in line NOW, or the first person’s name I see on these diplomas is getting shot!”

“So we’ve established he didn’t graduate from college, or else he’d know the diploma cover you get at the ceremony doesn’t actually contain the diploma,” Sansa muttered.

“Yes, darling, because that’s what we need to focus on now,” Margaery replied as the first student, a petite young woman with chestnut-colored hair, stood on shaky legs and walked slowly toward the stage, sobbing loudly.

Brienne realized that she was at a slight advantage at the moment. One good thing about telekinesis was that unless the person called attention to themselves, it was impossible to know who was moving things about. She just needed to figure out what she could use to get to the catwalk, because she saw that being her best bet to get to Jaime. Obviously once one was on the catwalk, they could move it over to the rafter Jaime was hanging from and get him free, but how to get up there?

She cursed the economical design of the music hall. Not only couldn’t she figure out how to get to the catwalk, there wasn’t a spare ladder of chair or anything she could use to get her there. She’d heard that some catwalks had a mechanism that allowed them to be lowered, but was this one of them? It had to be, surely, so where was the mechanism?

“A brave soul! I admire that. I’m not sure which one of these diplomas is yours, but you can just trade it back to the person whose it is later. Who knows, maybe you’ll make a love connection. What’s your name, little one?”

The girl couldn’t talk for crying.

Brienne took another survey of the room, this time focusing on the Kraken Gang. Two were positioned at each entrance on the ground floor, one at each of the emergency exits at the top of the stairs, and three patrolling each side of the risers. Three more wandered about the main floor. Brienne noticed that their attention had been caught by the interaction between The Kraken and the girl instead of paying attention to what they should be doing

The girl finally said, “I-I-I’m Jeyne Westerling. Please, Mr. Kraken sir, _please_ don’t kill me! Please!”

The Kraken laughed.

“Why do they always have the same ridiculous laugh?” Margaery muttered as The Kraken insisted he wasn’t going to kill Jeyne.

“Yes, Margaery, because that’s what we need to focus on now,” Sansa hissed. “Brienne…”

Brienne didn’t know what she was going to do, but this was probably her best chance. She focused on the gang member closest to her and tried to reach out with her mind to yank the gun from him.

She felt nothing—not the familiar rush of power being expended, not the pinch of pain (or worse) she expected, nothing. The gun stayed firmly in his hands. She tried again, tried harder, and still nothing happened.

“Oh gods,” she whispered. She’d tried to deny what the empty feeling was, tried to pretend that because she hadn’t felt the terrible pain both she and The Kraken had expected to come when he’d blown that thrice-damned horn that she was fine, but the truth couldn’t be denied.

Brienne was powerless.

 _Oh, gods. He’s got Jaime and I can’t save him. I can’t do anything._ Brienne looked up at Jaime again, tears filling her eyes.

“Brienne, you have to do something,” Sansa said in a low voice, glancing around at the people nearby.

“I can’t,” Brienne whimpered.

“Yes, you can. You _have to._ ” Sansa’s hand touched Brienne’s cheek and made her look at her and Margaery. Margaery was looking at Jaime with narrowed eyes.

Brienne didn’t understand. Why did they think that she could do anything in this situation? She was powerless, and she could do nothing without her powers. That horn had drained her power away and she was nothing. She felt as helpless as she had the day she’d gotten them, when Selwyn first explained what they were and what they meant, and what her destiny was to be. She’d gotten so angry she’d gone outside and slammed her fist into a tree, putting a large hole in the trunk. Her fist had recovered. The tree had not.

“I can’t,” she repeated. “It’s Jaime, he’s got Jaime, and I can’t do anything.”

“He’s alive,” Margaery said, whipping her head around to look at them. “I saw his head move just now and look—he’s twisting about. He’s alive.”

Brienne looked up and saw what Margaery had seen. Jaime had regained consciousness and was sluggishly trying to move. Brienne let out a gasp of relief. He was alive and trying to get free even if he wasn’t fully conscious.

“Okay, that’s good. That’s good. Now that you know he’s alive, you can save him, Brienne.” Sansa put her hands on Brienne’s shoulder.

“I can’t,” Brienne said, trying to keep her voice low while everything in her wanted to scream.

“You’re the only one who can,” Sansa said at the same time Margaery said, “Of course you can.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Brienne paused as something occurred to her. “What makes you think I can do anything?”

“Brienne…we _know_ ,” Sansa said.

Brienne looked at them. They looked back expectantly. They knew?

_They knew??_

If she made it through this mess alive, she was prying full details out of them, but as they kept telling each other, now was not the time. “I can’t do this, because…” she looked at the people around them. They were all looking at the scene at the stage, where The Kraken took the diploma cover closest to him and pressed it into poor little Jeyne Westerling’s hand. She leaned in and whispered into Sansa’s ear, “My powers are gone.”

Sansa pulled back abruptly, horrified. “That thing _worked?_ I thought he said…” She leaned in to whisper, “I thought you were supposed to be in pain or dead if it worked.”

Brienne shook her head. “I feel empty and drained. And I just tried to do something, and it didn’t work. They’re gone, and I can’t do anything, and he’s got Jaime, and…”

Sansa grabbed the sides of Brienne’s head and pulled her close. “Brienne Allyria Tarth, you are thinking too much about your powers and not enough about _you_ ,” Sansa said fiercely. “You are more than just those powers. You are smart, you are resourceful, and you will think of something. I know you will.”

“I don’t even know how I’m going to get out of this room.”

“Oh, well, we can take care of that,” Margaery said. She looked down at her outfit. She’d gone for subtle rather than sexy in a sleeveless forest green dress with a v-neck that showed just a hint of cleavage. The skirt was modest by Margaery standards, ending right at the knee. She gripped the skirt with both hands and ripped it up the side until there was an almost indecent amount of golden, tanned thigh showing. She did the same with the small v-neck, pulling until half of her breasts spilled out the top.

In the meantime, Sansa had removed her gown, revealing skintight black jeans and a simple black silk button-down blouse. She unfastened enough buttons to reveal her black lace push-up bra, then tousled her auburn hair.

“Guys, I can’t let you put your lives at risk for me,” Brienne protested as The Kraken loudly applauded someone else coming forward. She looked over at the stage to see one of her students, Alys Karstark, walking up. She looked less frightened than Jeyne Westerling, but not by much.

“You put your life at risk for everyone in this damned city every time you put on the mask,” Margaery said. “Why shouldn’t someone return the favor for once?”

“Because…because I’m…and you’re not…”

Margaery smiled. “I may not have superpowers, but I’ve got something I think works just as well. Hang tight for a couple minutes and let us take care of this part. You can do the rest.”

“Yes,” Brienne said, the emptiness and despair receding a bit. “Yes, that’s what I’ll do.”

“Seduction now, discussion later,” Sansa said, looking around before standing up. She gave Margaery a hand up and the two of them walked toward the two men guarding the door, who automatically raised their guns.

Brienne scooted slightly closer to the door as she heard Margaery murmur, “Now really, darlings, why would you want to shoot us? Neither of us is The Evenstar.” Margaery’s fingers toyed with the ripped neckline of her dress. Brienne had seen her do it often enough to draw attention to her chest. “For one thing, The Evenstar doesn’t have these.” She glanced down at her cleavage and then up through her eyelashes at the man she’d targeted.

 _I’ll say,_ Brienne thought wryly.

“And The Evenstar doesn’t have legs or a booty like this,” Sansa said, turning her body so that her man could get a good look at the objects in question, tilting her head back until her long auburn hair brushed the top of her backside and then giving him a sultry look over her shoulder.

_Guys, don’t you think you’re laying it on a bit thick? They’re going to know you’re up to something. They have to know that beautiful women like you would never have anything to do with them unless you wanted something. Like escape._

Apparently not, because both men had lowered the weapons and were openly leering at Margaery and Sansa—along with several interested males waiting with breathless anticipation to see what the end result of Margaery and Sansa’s maneuvering would be. Brienne scooted closer.

Margaery moved closer to her mark. “I don’t want to die,” she whispered. “Can you save me?”

Sansa moved closer to hers. “Can you save us?”

The men looked at each other. _It’s not going to work,_ Brienne thought as she moved about as close as she could get. She checked to see what was going on in the rest of the room. The Kraken’s attention was fully focused on his third “graduate,” while some of his goons were rounding up anyone wearing a robe, including some of the professors.

Brienne looked down at her robe. _Hells._ She couldn’t take hers off because she wore her suit underneath. Was that one goon heading in this direction?

Then Sansa’s mark put his hand on the door handle and slowly…slowly… _slowly_ opened it, his eyes on The Kraken the whole time. He opened the door just enough that someone small could slip through. Sansa put her hands on his chest, raised them to his face, leaned in, and kissed him. At the same time, she pressed her body to his, maneuvering him so that the door opened wider, wider…Sansa was through the door. Margaery’s mark had just opened his and then Margaery was going through as Sansa’s door was closing.

Brienne sprang to her feet and dove for Sansa’s door. The goon was caught off-guard, and Brienne pushed past him easily and through. The back entrance to the music hall led to the hallway and dressing rooms for the King’s Landing Symphony Orchestra, who regularly played there. Brienne remembered from her study of the blueprints that there were two exits, one at either end of the hallway.

“This way!” she shouted to Margaery and Sansa, choosing to go left as it was closer to a wooded area that would allow more cover. She heard them behind her, and then the sound of more people running as they’d followed Brienne’s lead in a bid for freedom. Brienne hoped she wasn’t leading all of them into a trap. None of the Kraken Gang was patrolling this hallway, but there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be someone outside waiting for them.

Brienne reached the exit and pushed the door to get out. It didn’t move. “Oh, no,” she murmured as someone crashed into her, then another and another. “Guys, it’s locked or blocked or something!”

_You’re smart and resourceful and more than just your powers._

A gunshot rang out. “Move everyone back real quick,” Brienne said. “I have an idea.”

“Move back! Move back!” Sansa shouted, pulling people away from Brienne. “Guys, give us room for a minute!”

Another gunshot, and someone screamed. Brienne heard someone yelling, “Fuck this, he can’t kill us all! Get him!”

Brienne didn’t hesitate. Thanking all the gods that the door, like almost everything else in the damned building, was made of wood, she kicked at the door near the lock. She felt it splinter, but it didn’t break. She kicked again, and again, and on the fourth kick, the door gave way. She pushed against it and held it open for the others, yelling, “Come on! Come on!”

While people streamed out the door, Brienne looked over her shoulder to see if any of the Kraken Gang was near. She didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t on their way.

Sansa and Margaery came through the door. “We’re the last,” Margaery said. She gave Brienne a quick hug. “Go kick some Kraken ass and get your boy.”

Sansa tugged on Margaery’s arm and led her away. “You got this, B!” she shouted.

Brienne took a deep breath and peeked inside to see what had happened. The gang member who had followed them was lying face down on the ground, either dead or unconscious, Brienne didn’t care. There were two people in graduation gowns nearby. Guilt and grief welled up; she tamped them down quickly. She stepped inside long enough to remove her gown and the dress pants she’d worn to hide her suit and put on her hood and mask. _No cape,_ she thought idly, and then, _why the hells do we bother with capes, anyway?_

Brienne didn’t know what she should do next. Should she try to make contact with Selmy—no. Selmy was dirty. Selmy had betrayed everything the Kingsguard stood for, and for what? What was he getting out of the deal? If she lived through this, she would make sure she found out. She’d heard there was a superhero out there who was telepathic. They could get the information out of him.

Not for the first time, she wished she knew who the other superheroes were, although she didn’t know how much help they would be here. The Kraken may have been wrong about how the Horn of Winter worked—it didn’t inflict pain but merely drained the powers away—but it _did_ work as intended. The Kraken might be wrong about the horn working on someone who didn’t hear it directly, but he might be right.

_Maybe I should try to get away and find out. How far would something like that work? A block? A mile? An entire continent? And if I get away from the horn’s immediate reach, will it matter because I heard the horn at close range and my powers are gone?_

Brienne swore that if she survived this, she was going to do so much history research she’d have to change what department she worked for at KLU.

With no other theory to go on than the possibility that her powers might return if she got far enough away, Brienne began to run toward the parking lot and her car before she remembered—dammit, her keys were locked in there and she didn’t have telekinesis to unlock it. She stopped to consider her options, and that’s when someone appeared around the corner and bumped into her.

Both of them froze, recognizing each other instantly. “E-Evenstar?” Officer Payne said hesitantly.

Brienne wasn’t sure why, but she felt a keen sense of disappointment that he was involved with the Kraken Gang. She wanted to shout; _I risked my life to save you!_ Instead, before he could sound the alarm or raise the weapon he held in his hand, she punched him. He went down with one punch and stayed down.

 _Maybe my powers are returning since I came outside?_ She tried reaching out with her mind to take Payne’s gun, but no go. _Maybe not._ She stepped over his body and turned the corner, only to find herself facing another gun.

“Hello, Evenstar. Funny running into you here.”

Brienne went very still as she stared into the beady eyes of Janos Slynt.

“Why am I not surprised?” she mused. “I always knew you were dirty.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he said. “Ever since you busted up that nice little scheme I had with The Flayer, I’ve waited for this day.”

“From The Flayer to The Kraken. I’m not sure which is worse.” Actually, she did. The Flayer, for all that he was a vicious sociopath, had not been nearly as powerful as The Kraken. She’d take five Flayers over this one Kraken any day.

Slynt moved to face her squarely. “How does it feel to have something you care about taken from you? Dangling fifty feet above your head, just within your reach if you could get to a ladder to the catwalk.”

A muscle in Brienne’s cheek spasmed, but she refused to respond. If she denied or admitted to so much as _knowing_ Jaime outside of the past three weeks, he would be dead before she could finish her sentence.

“Did you know that there are cameras in certain areas of the City Museum’s stairwell? Including that little spot where our good doctor dangling up there kissed you.” Slynt’s smile widened. “Who’d have thought the day would come when we had a gay superhero. Takes all kinds, I guess. I didn’t tell The Kraken about that…yet. I figure once we get inside, I’ll give him the news that the man he’s been trying to kidnap for ransom all this time had a bit more value than he thought. Maybe that’ll make him reconsider letting Dr. Lannister live in favor of torturing you a little bit more by killing your lover while you watch.”

The confirmation that she’d been right—Jaime _had_ been The Kraken’s target all along—did not come as much consolation.

“Something tells me The Kraken will have far more interest in getting as much money as he can from Tywin Lannister than he will in satisfying your need for revenge,” Brienne said.

Slynt laughed. “Yeah, maybe. Maybe not. Either way, my need for revenge will be satisfied soon enough, whether Lannister bites it or not.” He took a step back from her. “What I want to do is shoot you in the head right now. You don’t have any power, so not only do you not have the extra strength or that mind shit, you’re not bulletproof. But The Kraken wants the honor of killing you himself, and if I do it, I’m likely to find myself as dead as all the others who displeased him. So I guess I’ll have to settle for a little satisfaction now, and more satisfaction later.”

Brienne had a feeling she knew what was coming. _Hold your tongue, say nothing, and wait for him to make a move,_ she heard her father say. _People who gloat make easy mistakes. Wait for him to make his._

“I always wanted to beat your ass, but I wasn’t dumb enough to take you on before. I’ve seen you in action enough to know that you would win. I think that losing your powers evens the odds.” Slynt took two more steps back and raised the gun. “Then again, why would I want even odds?” He fired two shots in rapid succession, one at each shoulder.

The bullets bounced harmlessly off the bulletproof material. Brienne raised her eyes to meet Slynt’s, watching the glee turn to shock.

“There was only one superhero who was bulletproof,” she said. “They called him The Armorer. The rest of us have to rely on the suit.”

Slynt charged at her, as she expected he would. She rolled to her left side. Slynt tried to stop his forward momentum and nearly tripped himself up. He righted himself and turned back to her, murder in his eyes.

Brienne got up from the floor just as Slynt came for her again, only this time when she feinted right, he followed her and caught her full body. She landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her from the impact of Slynt landing on top of her. Before she could catch her breath, he rose up and slammed his fist into her jaw. Brienne tasted blood in her mouth.

He brought his fist up again to strike her, but she bucked beneath him and dislodged him enough for her to bring her hands up and shove hard at his chest, pushing him off her. She pushed herself off the floor and to her feet, not waiting for Slynt to rise to his feet before she kicked at his head. He dodged and her foot landed a glancing blow on his shoulder, enough to shove him back but not the knockout she was hoping for.

She didn’t wait for him to set himself but rather aimed another kick at his midsection. This one landed soundly, and he fell backwards on the ground. It took him longer to get up than she expected. _A testament to the physical fitness standards of the Gold Cloaks,_ she thought sarcastically. When he was up, she landed a right uppercut and followed it up with a left hook. Down he went again. Brienne waited for him to rise, noticing he weaved slightly. _Time to go in for the kill_ , she thought, but when she came closer to punch him, he grabbed the back of her hood and headbutted her. She stumbled, tried to correct herself, but he came in close and brought his knee up under her chin, snapping her head back. She fell hard, tasted blood again and wondered if she’d lost any teeth. Her head felt fuzzy.

And then she heard the click of a gun being cocked. She looked up to see Slynt pointing his weapon at her face.

“Fuck it. He’ll kill me, but I’ll die happy.”

Brienne closed her eyes and waited for the bullet. _I’m sorry, Jaime. I tried, but I couldn’t save you this time._

She heard a thud. Her eyes opened and saw Slynt grab the back of his head before slumping to the ground. A foot shot forward and kicked his gun out of his reach.

Brienne’s heart sank as she saw that her savior was none other than Officer Payne. Obviously, he’d knocked out Slynt so he would get the glory of bringing her to The Kraken himself.

“Evenstar,” he replied, slipping his gun into its holster and holding out a hand to her. Brienne stayed where she was. “I’m not an enemy. I swear by the old gods and the new.”

Brienne gasped. Swearing by the old gods and the new was something very few people did anymore, and usually those who did were…

“I thought…that is to say, when I saw you before, I figured…” she babbled.

“I know what you thought, but we don’t have time to talk now. We need to figure out something to save everyone in there, and we’re running out of time. Lord Commander Selmy is—”

“Lord Commander Selmy?” Something about the way he said that was more than just hero-worship of the organization he’d confided he wanted to join. “Who _are_ you?”

“Ser Podrick Payne of the Kingsguard. Now please, the Lord Commander instructed me to get you to a secure location so we can think through a plan.”

Brienne knew there wasn’t much time left. She’d wasted precious minutes dealing with Slynt, and she wasn’t sure there wasn’t an alternative Selmy could think of that wouldn’t risk the lives of everyone in the music hall if she hadn’t already done that herself with her escape. She looked at him and said, “I’ll wait until the last minute to go in there. I don’t think he’ll make a move toward anyone until then, but I’m not leaving this place. If Selmy comes up with a plan, he knows how to contact me.”

“But—”

“Tell Selmy I’ll be weighing my options and if I come up with something, I’ll let him know. The best thing you can do right now is go back undercover. Find a place to hide this scumbag so he won’t be found anytime soon and resume being a dirty Gold Cloak. You’ll help me more that way.”

She could see that he struggled with going against a direct order given by his commander. She also saw when he acknowledged that her suggestion made the most sense. He nodded, took hold of Slynt by the back of his heavy bulletproof vest, and began dragging him toward the broken door and the hallway within.

Brienne watched them move slowly away and thought about all the little slights and sneers and put-downs she’d received from Slynt over the years. All the times she’d saved his ass by putting down a villain. Protected his men when their lives were at risk. Hells, she’d saved the life of the man dragging him down the hall when Slynt had undoubtedly been the one to put him at risk by sending him into that bank vault.

She realized there was one last thing she wanted to do— _had_ to do.

“Wait a minute, Officer Payne!” He stopped dragging Slynt as Brienne got up and went over to them.

She bent down, grabbed Slynt by the hair and forced him to look at her. “When this is all over, and you’re in a prison cell with the rest of your Gold Cloak buddies, make sure they know one thing about the time you took on The Evenstar.” She pulled off her mask and lowered her hood. “Let them know you got beat by a bad-ass _woman_.” She landed one last punch to knock him out.

Breathing hard, she stared down at Slynt’s inert body with a glow of satisfaction she hadn’t felt in what seemed like a very long time. She almost wished she were the type who fought dirty and kicked a man when he was out cold, but that wasn’t her. She’d only feel guilty about it later.

A cleared throat brought her back to the present, and it was only then that she realized the full ramification of what she’d done. She’d given in to an impulse and done something rash, and now someone, a total stranger, could identify her. She bent her head. Her father would _kill_ her for doing something so stupid.

_What have you done, you bloody fool?_

“Just so you know,” Ser Podrick said softly, “The Kingsguard has known you’re a woman for a long time, Dr. Tarth.” He said nothing more, just picked up Slynt and continued dragging him to the door.

Brienne checked her watch, trying to remember what time had been on the clock when The Kraken had given her the time limit. Had it been 11:25 or 11:35? She was pretty sure it was after the half hour. So she had about twenty minutes before time was up, and The Kraken…what? What was he intending to do? According to Slynt, he intended to bleed Tywin Lannister for however much money he thought he could get for Jaime, which was quite a lot. She doubted he would kill Jaime if she didn’t arrive on time.

However, despite what Slynt thought, The Kraken obviously knew that Brienne had feelings for Jaime, because he’d made a point of bringing Jaime here and stating that if she didn’t show, his life would be forfeit. Maybe The Kraken had seen the stairwell footage, too.

_Focus, Brienne! He’s got at least three or four hundred hostages in there that he’ll gladly slaughter to get to you._

She could think of nothing but the slim hope that if she got well enough away from the music hall, her powers would return and wouldn’t fade when she came back. She took off her watch and ran for the woods, needing the cover of the trees and shrubs. Every two or three minutes, she stopped running, tossed her watch a few feet away, and tried to pick it up telekinetically. The watch never moved.

Finally, when she realized that she’d gone as far as she could before she would be too far to return by the deadline, she tried one last time to use her powers.

Nothing happened.

She knew she couldn’t afford to cry, but tears streamed down her face anyway as she raced back to the music hall. As she left the shelter of the woods, she saw the familiar perimeter set up outside the building. She stared at the familiar faces—coolheaded Jacelyn Bywater, handsome Arys Oakheart, stalwart Balon Swann, who was as ugly as Oakheart was handsome, and of course, tall, elegant Barristan Selmy. She sent a quick apology to Selmy for thinking that he was dirty, even if he would never hear it.

“Evenstar!”

She’d been spotted. Brienne saw the remnants of the Kraken Task Force waving frantically at her, but before she could make the choice about whether or not to hear them tell her they had no plan, she felt the barrel of a gun on the back of her neck and knew it was too late.


	11. Part XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part XI: In which The Kraken gets a nasty surprise, and at last, someone comes to Brienne's rescue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: The graduation ceremony continues. Summary to come at the start of part 12.

As she was marched back into Rhaegar Hall, Brienne thought of the Evenstars who had preceded her and the strength they’d had, inside and out. The first superhero Evenstar, Galladon Tarth, who had given up his birthright because he’d felt his talents were needed elsewhere. His great-granddaughter, Eliana Tarth, who had been the only recorded empath in the Evenstar line. The brilliant Jaime Tarth, the only lefthanded Evenstar who had been so lightning fast with a sword that people accused him of being in league with R’Hllor. Alysanne Tarth, the great-grandmother she’d never known who had shone so hot and bright, and burned out so quickly. Brienne’s grandfather, Cameron Tarth, who had been so, so cautious after his mother’s death that he had sent his family into a spiral of secrecy that remained today.

And her father. Selwyn, who had tried so hard to keep control of his powers so that she would have as normal a life as possible but had failed in the end. He had made her the woman and superhero she was today, and she hoped he wouldn’t feel disappointed at how her end came.

She thought of the Evenstars to come, if there were any. She wondered if her Uncle Endrew’s greatest fear would come true and that one of his children would wake up tomorrow morning with superstrength, or telekinesis, or gods help them, pyrokinesis. She knew he’d been playing matchmaker for her for _years_ in the hope she’d meet someone and have a baby or two. Now time was up for her, but perhaps it didn’t mean the end of the line for Evenstars entirely.

In fact, as the doors of the main hall closed behind her, Brienne believed she could feel their power inside her, all of them, past and future. It gave her an odd sense of peace. She knew she didn’t stand a chance of surviving this encounter with The Kraken without her powers, but she refused to be cowed. She wouldn’t go down without a fight, and if her best wasn’t enough, she would die with as much dignity as possible. She would do her ancestors and descendants-of-a-sort proud.

Since she’d made her escape out the back doors, some things had changed. The chairs were back in the neat rows they’d been in at the start of the ceremony, with those graduates, professors, and family members who hadn’t escaped sitting nervously. The risers were empty but hadn’t been retracted yet, as the gang members stood guard over the people on the main floor. She glanced at the back doors and saw two bodies. She recognized them by their clothes as the two guards that Margaery and Sansa had lured into letting them go.

Finally, after she’d taken a look around the scene, she looked up at Jaime. Still suspended from the rafter closest to the catwalk and still tied up; however, the blindfold was gone, and he was gagged.

One other thing had changed in the last hour. There was now a ladder that led to the catwalk, which explained how Jaime was now wearing a gag instead of a blindfold.

_It’s a trap. He wants you to try and save Jaime by climbing the ladder. Get him talking. Figure out what he wants. Buy yourself time to come up with something._

“You cut that mighty close, Evenstar.”

Brienne expected The Kraken to pull some sort of stunt to show off his power, like his usual party trick of coming in on a gust of wind. Instead, he stood at the podium, much as he had earlier when he was handing out diploma covers to graduates.

“Well, you know how it goes,” she said. “I had to press my best suit, do my hair, that kind of thing.”

The Kraken laughed with delight. “Do you know, I think we could have been friends in another life! I like people who can laugh in the face of death. Most people snivel and whine and cry. I figured superheroes would be the same, especially when they don’t have powers.”

“We would never have been friends,” Brienne replied. “The gods gave me my powers to protect people from the likes of you.”

“Did they?” He picked up the Horn of Winter. “Care to try and take this away from me with your ‘powers?’ Care to tell me where your gods are now?” He blew it again. When she failed to react, his brows furrowed. He looked at the horn as though he wasn’t sure it was working properly. “Tell me, Evenstar—when did you first feel the exquisite pain of losing your powers? Where were you at the time?”

“I was…” Gods, what was he expecting? How far did he think the reach of the horn went? _Why didn’t he know that himself?_ “I was at home. Reading, and suddenly I felt empty.”

The Kraken’s frown deepened. “Empty? I’ve been told that losing your powers is so excruciating that many don’t survive it, and if you do, you’re left with an endless ache that leaves you unable to focus on anything else. Don’t lie to me, Evenstar.”

 _Even if I did feel that, I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction._ Brienne shrugged. “I can’t tell you what didn’t happen. I felt empty. If it’s any consolation to you, I still feel that way. As for ‘endless ache,’ I do notice an absence. Like when you lose a tooth, your tongue goes to the hole in your mouth instinctively, and you have to remind yourself, ‘oh yeah, that’s not there anymore.’ I figure I’ll get used to it eventually.”

Brienne expected him to level her with a blast of wind, or something that would provide her with the pain she’d told him she hadn’t experienced when he blew the horn. But he did nothing except stare at her in disbelief.

“How disappointing,” he said. Brienne thought that it might’ve been the most normal thing he’d said to her in all their interactions.

“Maybe you could take it back where you got it from, ask them for a refund,” she suggested. “Leave a few one-star reviews on Amazon.”

The Kraken was on the verge of losing his temper, but still the blast didn’t come.

“I didn’t come here to talk about your choice in musical instruments. You wanted me here. I’m here. You wanted me powerless. I’m powerless. Before we talk about what you really want, why don’t you show me a little good faith and let some of these people go? They got me here, so you don’t need them anymore. They don’t have any superpowers. They don’t have any influence over those in power. Most of them don’t come from money. They have no value.” Gods, it hurt to say that after all the time she spent convincing some of these kids how important they were. “Let them go.”

“Come now, Evenstar. What kind of Elemental would I be if I just _let people go_? If I did that, people would get the wrong idea about me. They might think I’m easy to take advantage of, and then where would I be?”

“That whole speech you gave earlier about people thinking themselves better than Elementals was all about respect. You want people to respect and fear you. If you kill them all, who’s left to do that? These people are _terrified_ of you right now. Send them home to their families to spread the fear.”

He seemed to be considering this. He looked around the room as though asking his gang for their opinions. Possibly he was seeing things that weren’t there and asking them rather than the gang. Finally, he said, “Everyone on the left side of the aisle. Get out.”

That was more of them than she’d expected. She stepped aside and let them people stream out. Their expressions as they looked at her were a mix of sympathy and gratitude. But to her horror, an older woman remained seated on the left side.

The Kraken glared at them. “I’m giving you a _gift,_ and you’re not taking it? GET OUT!”

A woman stood and said, “My son is over there. I won’t leave without him.”

Of course. Brienne hadn’t thought of the fact that families would’ve been separated in the confusion, why hadn’t she thought of that?

“Which one is your son?” When she didn’t answer, he slung the Horn of Winter over his shoulder and stalked off the stage toward her. He yelled in her face, “ _Which one is he?”_

She trembled but didn’t answer. From the right side, a young man rose. Brienne’s heart lurched. It was Robin Arryn. “Mom…you have to go,” he said. “I’ll be fine here. Please. Leave.”

She shook her head. “Not without you.”

“If you don’t go now, you’ll both be dead!” The Kraken shouted.

 _Why is he doing this? Why isn’t he blasting them through the walls?_ Brienne looked up at the broken skylight and wondered if he wasn’t able to get enough wind from it to do anything. Then she remembered that he had arrived on the wind.

“I’ll stay if you let him go,” she said. Her voice trembled as she said, “Please. Isn’t there someone you would sacrifice yourself for? A father or a mother…or a child?”

“My father was a miserable, worthless piece of shit and my mother a whore whose name I never knew. As for children, they’re mongrels, born of whores and weepers.” He paused. “There is one boy, though. I’ve noticed something about him. Probably as worthless as his brothers, but in his honor, your son may go.”

“I’m not leaving—”

“Robert Arryn, you will leave now or so help me I’ll kill you myself!”

The Kraken laughed. “Family devotion, Evenstar. Don’t you love it? You two have thirty seconds to decide which one stays, or else I kill you both.”

Mrs. Arryn grabbed her son’s arm and dragged him to the end of the row. “Your father didn’t spend all those years working himself into an early grave for you to throw away the future he provided for you. Now go!”

At last convinced, Robin fled. Mrs. Arryn sat in the seat he’d occupied. “Thank you, Kraken.”

The Kraken turned back to Brienne. “There. I can be merciful. Now where’s my respect and fear from you?”

“What about the rest of these people? What about him?” Brienne pointed to the ceiling at Jaime.

“Ahhh, now we come to the person you’re really worried about! You’re not here for these others, the ones you called losers. You’re here for the golden goose.” The Kraken looked up at Jaime. “Tell me, Evenstar, did you kiss him to shut him up? Because I have yet to figure out how to make him stop talking without sticking that gag in his mouth, and even then, he makes enough noise to wake the Others.”

Every eye in the place was on her. Brienne said, “It was most effective, you have to admit.”

“He’s not my type, or I might’ve considered it.

“You haven’t answered my question about them.”

“You haven’t shown me proper respect and fear!” he shouted.

“You haven’t given me a reason to.”

_That’s right, he hasn’t. He hasn’t attempted to blast anyone, stir up wind to create chaos, or anything. The wind hasn’t stirred once, even when he was angry. Why hasn’t he done something to show off his power?_

Brienne looked at the Horn of Winter. She gasped. “You lost your powers, too!”

“No! The horn doesn’t affect Elementals! We don’t get our power from the gods, we get it from the elements that are far greater than any god could dream of being!” The Kraken sounded on the verge of hysteria. “I could kill everyone in this room with one sweep of my hand!”

“Then prove it!” Brienne shouted. “Sweep your hand and sweep us away! You need something to earn you bragging rights at the next Greyjoy family reunion, so go for it!” Brienne didn’t know where this was coming from, because what she was doing went against everything her father had ever taught her. Just because The Kraken didn’t have his powers didn’t mean the men with him didn’t still have guns.

As instinctively as she had tried to use her telekinesis earlier, The Kraken did as she suggested. And as she suspected, nothing happened.

Pure terror flashed on his face. Brienne had a brief thought that she knew now how Slynt had felt when he’d found her powerless. On the heels of that thought came a quick reminder: _powerless but not helpless._

The Kraken turned and ran, heading straight for the ladder to the catwalk.

 _He’s going for Jaime._ Of course, he was. The people in the rows were bargaining chips but ultimately not the big prize. If he got to Jaime, it was game over. Brienne ran after The Kraken, not caring anymore if it was a trap. She could not let him have Jaime. She was willing to die if it meant Jaime would live.

The Kraken reached the catwalk and took three steps toward Jaime before he stumbled, and the catwalk swayed. Although the platform to get onto the catwalk was sturdy, the catwalk itself was not. He grabbed for one of the few rails to steady himself, and that was the window Brienne took to catch up to him.

Unfortunately, Brienne had even more of a problem than The Kraken did on the catwalk. She was larger and heavier than he was. Her slightest step sent the whole thing wobbling. The Kraken realized this and, with a smile, grabbed hold of the rail on the other side and deliberately shook the catwalk. Brienne went sprawling, trying to grab on to something so she didn’t fall off.

Several of the people below screamed. This seemed to make The Kraken recall they were there, and as Brienne tried to figure out how she was going to be able to find her balance on this damned thing, he shouted, “Kill them! Kill all of—”

“Not so fast, Kraken!” a voice boomed from the ground below them.

The Kraken froze. Brienne managed to look down see who had spoken, her eyes going wide when she saw them.

She wasn’t sure how the six of them had gotten into the building, unless they’d done it as the freed hostages had left. Even then, she wasn’t sure how no one had noticed them, given what they were wearing.

She’d never seen or met any superheroes in person, of course, because her father had told her that was for the best. But it was kind of hard not to keep up with them through what she read about their exploits in the leading newspapers of the regions they looked after. She recognized most of the suits right away. The tall, muscular superhero in black and gold with the horned helmet, carrying a warhammer, was The Stag. The small, slender superhero in blue and white with the stars across their chest was Morning Star. The lean superhero in green and bronze was The Hunter. The curvaceous one in gold had to be Sand Snake. 

One was completely unfamiliar to her, a superhero who looked to be taller than her in blinding white with no identifying insignia.

The last one was familiar to her even if he wasn’t a superhero. He was a very small person in crimson with a gold lion on the front.

 _Tyrion,_ she thought, which meant the rest of the people with him weren’t superheroes, either. However, if Tyrion had brought them in to help him rescue his big brother, they were bound to be the best at whatever it was they did.

 _How?_ She wondered, but then she realized what it had to be. News cameras were all over the place outside, and even if they hadn’t been, social media would’ve broadcast the news from Westeros and beyond. The Kraken had had people recording what was going on in here live. But that question could also apply to how Tyrion and the others had gotten here so quickly. Last she’d heard, Tyrion was somewhere in Pentos. Even if he’d heard about Jaime’s plight, there was no way he could’ve gotten here in such a short amount of time.

The Kraken recovered from his shock, grabbed the horn from his back, breaking the strap it was on in the process, and blew it long and loud. There was no reaction from the group. The Kraken, obviously still believing that his horn would cause superheroes to experience mind-numbing pain despite personal experience to the contrary, blew the horn again. And still nothing.

Brienne grinned as Tyrion yelled, “ATTACK!”

Brienne didn’t get a chance to see what was happening because The Kraken barreled into her, trying to topple her over the catwalk to the ground below. Brienne went over the side and she grabbed on to a rail for dear life. The Kraken kicked at her hands to break her hold.

She heard an almost inhuman yell and the slight whooshing of air passing over her head as something sailed their way. Something—or rather, _someone_ —collided with The Kraken, who went sprawling. Brienne looked up and saw a blur of blue and white swing back from the rails she’d used to propel herself forward before touching down gracefully onto the platform.

“And I used to tell my mother that those gymnastics classes wouldn’t do me any good,” Morning Star said. As Brienne struggled to pull herself back onto the catwalk, Morning Star placed themselves between her and The Kraken. She got up just in time to see The Kraken swing out and try to hit Morning Star, who dropped to their knees to avoid being hit. The Kraken lost his balance and fell on top of Morning Star, who let out a pained grunt.

The catwalk rocked back and forth as Morning Star tried to get out from under The Kraken while he began choking them. Brienne decided that there was no point in trying to stand up with all the rocking. She crawled over, careful not to step on Morning Star. She rose up on her knees and punched The Kraken three times, accompanying the last punch with a hard shove that sent him tumbling backwards. Brienne saw a flash of something gold falling off the catwalk to the ground below.

The Kraken somehow managed to get to his feet, then looked around as though trying to get his bearings. Abruptly, he began laughing.

_Why is he laughing?_

His good eye flickered to his left.

He stood right next to the rafter Jaime was suspended from.

The Kraken pulled a dagger out of his belt. Brienne knew instantly from the ripples in the metal that it was no ordinary dagger. It was Valyrian steel, which could cut through the thick rope holding Jaime in place like it was nothing more than hair. She screamed as the light caught the steel in the instant before The Kraken cut through the rope, sending Jaime hurtling toward the ground.


	12. Part XII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part XII: In which Brienne has her final showdown with The Kraken, and finally gets what she's always wanted. Well, almost everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! The graduation ceremony ends with the beginning of this chapter. A quick summary of everything that happened: KLU's graduation began at a music hall with a skylight, which The Kraken crashes through to ruin the party. He reveals that he's found the Horn of Winter, which he believes will cause excruciating pain and eventual death to any superhero who hears it--or who comes within a certain distance from where it was blown. He also reveals that he's kidnapped Jaime and suspended him from a ceiling rafter. He gives The Evenstar forty-five minutes to get to the music hall to save Jaime and the rest of the people who didn't escape in the original chaos. 
> 
> Brienne realizes that the Horn of Winter drained her of her powers when she tries to use telekinesis. Sansa and Margaery reveal that they've known about her secret identity for a long time and use their "powers of seduction" on a pair of hapless guards to help Brienne escape the music hall so she can come back as The Evenstar. Brienne discovers that Janos Slynt is working with The Kraken and the two of them fight. Podrick Payne stops Slynt from shooting her and reveals he is working undercover for the Kingsguard. Brienne tries to see if her powers will come back if she gets far enough away from the horn's reach, but they don't. Resigned to her fate, she surrenders to the Kraken Gang and is led back to the music hall.
> 
> Back with The Kraken, Brienne tries to bargain for everyone else's safety but she soon figures out that when The Kraken blew the Horn of Winter, he drained not only her powers but also his own. The two of them battle on a catwalk very close to the rafter where Jaime is suspended. Just as The Kraken orders his men to shoot the rest of the people in the room, a group of six people dressed as superheroes show up. Led by Tyrion, they immediately begin fighting the Kraken Gang. The Kraken decides he's had enough and cuts the rope keeping Jaime suspended in air.
> 
> Hmm. *Looks at summary* And I wonder how this story got so out of hand. Anyway, you're all caught up now! Hope you enjoy the rest of it!!

As the Kraken cut the rope keeping Jaime suspended in air, Brienne did something she hadn’t done since she was eighteen and facing her first villain—she froze in terror.

Only for a moment, because just then she felt a sudden surge of _something_ rush through her. Not sure what it was or how it happened, Brienne reached out with blind instinct and did the only thing she could do—she caught Jaime with her mind. She didn’t hear the screams of horror turn to gasps of shock as Jaime hovered two feet from the ground. She turned him onto his side and gently lowered him the rest of the way.

_How did I do that without my powers?_

Morning Star screamed something that sounded like “horn.” Brienne looked down at the ground and saw The Stag standing not far from where Jaime lay, his warhammer in hand, the Horn of Winter in a crushed heap at his feet.

_The horn. The Stag destroyed the horn!_

Brienne realized two things almost at the same time: with the destruction of the horn, she’d regained her powers…but so had The Kraken.

The Kraken was staring down at the scene below him, disbelief written on his face.

Brienne couldn’t afford to hesitate, so she didn’t. She screamed at The Stag to throw the hammer before she remembered that he wasn’t _actually_ him. She prepared to pick it up with her mind when The Stag looked directly at The Kraken, arched back with the hammer in his hand, and threw it at him. At the same time The Stag launched the hammer, Brienne shouted, “Hey, Kraken!” He turned to look at her a second before the hammer hit him square in the chest.

Brienne took no chances that the hammer hit was enough to kill him. She shoved hard at him with telekinetic energy. The Kraken catapulted over the flimsy catwalk railing and fell headfirst to the floor with a sickening thud.

Brienne didn’t want to look. She knew there was no way he could have survived the fall, but she also knew she wouldn’t be able to believe it if she didn’t see him with her own eyes. She looked down at the ground.

The Kraken stared up at her with his one good eye, a smile on his face. Blood pooled from the back of his head where he’d hit the floor. She waited for the eye to close.

Finally, it did.

~*~*~*~*~*

The Kingsguard rounded up the rest of The Kraken’s goons while KLU security, called in because no one could be sure which Gold Cloaks were good and which ones were dirty, managed crowd control. There hadn’t been many people left in the music hall by the end, anyway, and it emptied out soon enough.

In the chaos, Brienne retreated to where she’d left her gown and pants. She slipped into them and dropped to the floor just as school security officers appeared to check the hallway. Brienne closed her eyes as she heard them approach the first of the bodies she knew were there, then the next. She waited for them to come to her.

“Oh, my gods, I think it’s Dr. Tarth,” one of them said. “Dr. Tarth?” She felt a gentle hand touch her cheek. “Norren, she’s warm!”

“Are you sure, Teora?” Footsteps approached.

Brienne groaned softly as though just regaining consciousness. She opened her eyes to see a young woman and an older man in a campus security uniforms crouching over her. “Wh-what happened?” she asked, sounding fuzzy and confused.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” the other officer—a man named Norren, apparently—crouched down on her other side.

“I…I remember we were trying to get out. I kicked at the door because it was locked, and then it opened. People were getting out. I got them out, didn’t I? Sansa and Margaery?” she asked, her voice rising in panic.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know the details about who got out. We need to get you out of here, get you looked at by paramaesters. Do you think you can stand?” Teora asked.

Brienne started to nod, then winced as very real pain ricocheted through her head. She allowed them to help her up and walk her out the broken door toward the parking lot, where a triage area had been set up to one side. There was a long line to be seen by a paramaester.

“Do you think you’ll be all right?” Norren asked as they lowered her to the ground.

“I should be,” she replied. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

Norren and Teora nodded to her and returned to their duties, although Teora gave her one last concerned look before they left. Brienne waited until they were around the corner before getting up and heading directly toward the group of brightly colored superheroes. She knew now that they _were_ superheroes because no one but the real Stag could have launched that heavy warhammer so accurately. She noticed that Tyrion was missing, but the others stood in a bunch outside the main door, staring at something going on inside. They stepped aside to let two paramaesters moving a wheeled stretcher come out of the building.

_Jaime._

Tyrion walked alongside the stretcher, looking anxiously up at its occupant. He’d removed his mask and hood but still wore the crimson Golden Lion costume. The rest of the superheroes remained completely disguised.

“Jaime!” she exclaimed, rushing over to him. Jaime murmured something and the paramaesters stopped the stretcher.

Jaime gave her a wan smile then winced. He had a laceration running from the left side of his mouth to his chin which no doubt made smiling painful. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, you.”

He stared at her. She stared back, not sure what to say.

“You okay?” he asked, raising one hand to point at her head. “Got hurt?”

“Uh…a little, I guess.” She felt along her head to where she’d been hit by…gods, at this point, she couldn’t remember who had done what when.

“Get checked out by one of these guys?” Jaime swung his hand and nearly hit one of the paramaesters. “These guys are great. They can help you. They’ll give you shots, but not the good kind, not at first. I get some Arbor Gold later, right?”

“Sure thing, Jaime,” Tyrion said. He looked at Brienne. “They gave him a painkiller. A strong one. He’s going to be loopy for a while.”

Brienne nodded her head slightly. Jaime grasped hold of her hand and looked at it. “You look like you’ve been fighting. Fighting for me?”

“Of course,” she whispered before she had time to think of a quip.

“Aww, that’s so sweet. You care about me.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the swollen knuckles, and even after everything she’d been through today, she shivered. “You’re coming with me to the hospital, right?”

“If anyone’s going with you to the hospital, it’s me,” Tyrion said. “Sorry, Brienne, I’m pulling the ‘poor little brother’ card on this one, otherwise he’ll sneak home without getting checked out.”

Jaime looked put out at that, but Brienne nodded. “I’ll be just behind the ambulance,” she promised Jaime. She leaned closer to him and added, “And I’ll be ready to bust you out as soon as they give you the all-clear.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Jaime said, letting go of her hand. “All right, let’s go. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can go home.”

“He’s going to be a right pain in the ass, isn’t he?” one of the paramaesters grumbled. Brienne stepped back to let them go.

“That’s a special talent of his,” Tyrion said as they loaded Jaime into the ambulance. He climbed in after them and gave the group a jaunty wave as the doors closed.

More campus security insisted they move aside to let the Kingsguard do their jobs, but were courteous enough to escort them to a private area around the back of the building where they wouldn’t be bothered by the press, who were shouting questions at the group—how had they heard what was going on? Was it true they’d taken on The Kraken without their powers? Was it true The Evenstar had died defeating The Kraken?

The walk gave Brienne a little time to think. A million questions came to mind for her to ask the superheroes, but she couldn’t ask them. They weren’t supposed to know who she was, and she couldn’t know them. She stood before them as Dr. Brienne Tarth, not The Evenstar. She had to act like a Completely Innocent Civilian now even though this was probably the only opportunity she’d ever have to see any of them in person.

_I’m one of you, but I’m not._

“So, uh…thank you guys for coming to save us.” Brienne wrung her hands. “I don’t know how you heard, and I know that you risked a lot to come, so…thank you. Not just for me and Jaime but for everyone in there. I don’t know how Tyrion managed to convince a bunch of superheroes to come, or even how he knows superheroes in the first place, but Tyrion knows everyone so I shouldn’t be surprised.” Brienne knew she was babbling but she couldn’t seem to stop.

Sand Snake waved a hand above their head. A strange mist that looked like sand formed a large circle around the group that grew and grew until it stood as tall as trees. Morning Star floated six feet above the round with ease. The Stag gave the warhammer in his hand a half-hearted toss that still sent it flying nearly twenty feet in the air. Reflexively, Brienne caught it with her mind and brought it back to the ground, realizing as she did so that she had revealed her superpower when she wasn’t wearing her suit. Brienne looked at The Hunter, who shrugged.

“X-ray vision and superhearing aren’t the kind of abilities that are easy to show off,” he said. “I could say something about liking your matching bra and panties set but—hey!” He easily dodged the kick Morning Star sent toward his head.

“Perv,” they said to him.

“I don’t use them for that, and you _know_ it, Arya.”

“Arya?” Brienne murmured, looking up at Morning Star.

Arya Stark nodded and removed her mask and hood, her shoulder-length dark brown hair tumbling free. Brienne turned to the others and saw The Stag running a hand over his buzz-cut hair—Gendry Waters. The Hunter took off his mask but left his hood on. Brienne knew she’d seen him somewhere and probably recently, but she couldn’t remember his name. Sand Snake did not remove their hood or mask, although Brienne was pretty sure she knew who it was because she’d seen that small beauty mark at the corner of their mouth in the past week. The man in white with his head bowed also remained fully costumed and a complete mystery.

“Do…do you all know who I am?” she asked in a low voice.

Sand Snake nodded. “Don’t worry, Evenstar. No one can see or hear us right now. They can’t even see the sand shield. As far as they can tell, we’re now blank space.”

“Okay.” Brienne turned to The Hunter. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m—”

“You’re Brienne, I know.” He smiled at her, a smile that had something a bit familiar to it. “Addam Marbrand. I’m a cousin of Tyrion and Jaime’s. I was at Jaime’s sabbatical party a few weeks ago.” He glanced down. “Wearing a different costume than this, actually, which may be why you don’t recognize me, although I think the fact that you couldn’t keep your eyes off Jaime might’ve had something more to do with it.”

Brienne felt heat rise in her cheeks. “Um…”

Arya drifted back to the ground and whacked him in the side. “Jerk.”

Addam winced. “I was also at the luxury suite at the ballgame earlier this week, so I have you to thank for saving my ass there.”

“You’re welcome,” she said automatically. “How do you guys know Tyrion? How does Tyrion know you?” Then the obvious answer struck her. “Is he…”

Addam nodded. “Teleport-capable telekinetic who is, and this is a direct quote, ‘too damn smart for a nickname and a silly outfit.’ He has a point, I guess. He gets in and out and no one’s the wiser, which is more than the rest of us can say. That’s how we got here so fast given that we’re scattered all over Westeros.”

“We’d have been here sooner, but Tyrion was cautious about where we met,” Gendry said. “Said he’s been researching the Horn of Winter for years. He had a good idea of how close he could bring us before we were within range of the horn’s power. Then he had insisted that he was the one to enter the perimeter to find out how bad it would be to lose our powers.”

“His research must’ve told him the same thing it told The Kraken—that it would leave you close to death,” Brienne said.

“Yeah. Then we had to come up with a plan of attack,” Sand Snake added. “Which basically amounted to the ‘Dothraki horde’ style of battle.”

“Hey, it _worked_ ,” Addam said. “Nice moves, by the way.”

“Thank you. I’ve been practicing lately.”

Brienne wondered if she was in some kind of dream, or perhaps it was a nightmare. At long last, she was standing in a group of her fellow superheroes, something she’d always wanted. But they acted like they’d known each other for years, and she knew none of them. Even among a group of those who should be her peers, she had been rejected before she’d even had a chance to try to belong.

“Okay, so why intercede now? Was it just because the target was Jaime?” Brienne asked, her voice rising. “I could’ve used some help containing The Kraken long before today.”

“I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up, but The Kraken wasn’t the only villain on the loose lately,” Sand Snake said, indignant. “I was dealing with The Procurer in Dorne, and _caught_ the son of a whore last night.”

“Ice Spider beyond the Wall,” Arya said.

“Ironborn on Storm’s End,” Gendry added.

“Seems like The Kraken’s appearance emboldened a lot more villains than usually appear at one time,” Addam said. “I had some skirmishes in the Reach.”

“And what about him?” Brienne pointed to the mysterious figure in white, still hooded

None of the others spoke, but finally, the man took off his hood and mask.

Brienne gasped, “Dad!”

Selwyn Tarth smiled at his daughter and just managed to get himself set as she threw herself into his arms. “Hey, starling,” he said, hugging her tightly.

“Dad, you shouldn’t be down here. It’s too dangerous for you.”

Selwyn released her. “I couldn’t be anywhere else,” he said.

“It was your dad who asked if we would help,” Arya said.

Brienne stared at her father in disbelief. “You always said it was too dangerous for us to know who the others were. Why did you change your mind?”

“Because after a very long talk with a very wise woman, I realized you were right.” Selwyn glanced at the others. “Your great-grandmother didn’t die because her powers got out of her control, although I believe it would’ve happened eventually. She died because someone betrayed her. A fellow superhero, someone she trusted, went rogue. After that, my father turned inward and stopped trusting anyone besides family. He taught me that, and I taught it to you.” He sighed. “Even after moving to Winterfell and learning to trust Ned and Catelyn, I still didn’t want you to reach out to the others. I told myself I was different because I had retired. Who was going to come looking for an old Evenstar living in the North? You were the one in danger.

“But Catelyn told me the same thing you did—that if The Kraken defeated you, he’d come after the others. Then he’d come after us even though we were retired and couldn’t do the job anymore. None of us were safe if we didn’t band together.” Selwyn hung his head. “These superheroes didn’t let you down, Brienne. I did. The minute I was put in contact with Tyrion, he asked me why the hells you hadn’t asked for his help before. I explained it to him and received a ten-minute lecture on how I was a stubborn aurochs who didn’t know shit.”

“Tyrion got in touch with us yesterday,” Gendry said. “We debated whether we should come to King’s Landing to make it faster for us to mobilize when The Kraken next struck, but we knew we couldn’t do that. And with Tyrion’s ability, it was the work of minutes to get us all here anyway.”

“You all know each other,” Brienne said quietly.

“Yes and no,” Arya said. “I got to know Gendry when I went to school in Braavos. He’d come over every couple of weeks for a day or two and always stopped by the bar where I worked. I didn’t find out he was The Stag until he got drunk and started babbling about taking on The Tickler.” She looked smug. “Took him another six months to figure it out about me.”

“Yeah, well, it took you a year to figure out I was interested in you, so who’s the idiot?” Gendry retorted.

“Tyrion’s my cousin, and I’ve met Arya from time to time when our paths have crossed, though it took me longer than six months to figure out about her. I don’t know why she bothers to dress in the suit since she can change her appearance at will,” Addam said.

“Not quite at will,” Arya admitted.

“And Obara Sand?” Brienne asked.

With a huff, Sand Snake pulled off her mask and hood. “I swear by the Seven, I’m getting this damned mark taken off my face. How am I going to go into a life of undercover work if I have something that people notice right away?”

Brienne thought back to her father’s first rule of superheroes. “There are other ways of making yourself blend in with a crowd that don’t include plastic surgery,” she murmured.

“Yeah, but Arya won’t share her secrets.”

Selwyn must’ve known what Brienne was thinking, because he said, “They were just waiting for you to reach out to them. They were eager enough to help when Tyrion called.” He looked at them with a mixture of fondness and sadness. “And I kept you from them by telling you that it wasn’t safe to trust anyone. I don’t think I realized how alone you’ve felt until…until your last phone call.”

“That was a couple of weeks ago,” Brienne protested.

“Well, keep in mind that your old man’s getting old and he’s still stubborn as an aurochs. It took him a while, but he realized what he had to do.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t expect you to forgive me for this, not for a while. And don’t go saying there’s nothing to forgive because you’ve got so much hopping around in your head right now that you need time to sort it out. Just know that when you’re ready to talk, I’ll be waiting.” He dropped his hand and turned to Obara. “I think I should go. Can you create an individual shield for me?”

“Of course.” She waved her hand and conjured up a smaller version of the large dome that kept them all hidden from view. “It’ll only last ten minutes, so make sure you’re not around people when time’s up.”

“Dad, wait,” Brienne said, putting out a hand to stop him. “Where are you going to go? Tyrion brought you here and you don’t have any way of getting anywhere without him.”

Selwyn smiled. “Do you still drive the Highgarden LTD?”

“That was two cars ago,” Brienne said, realizing how long it had been since she’d last driven to Winterfell to see her father as she said it. She rattled off the make and model of her latest car, knowing he had just enough telekinesis to pop the lock on her car door.

“Your car will be waiting at the hospital. I’ll make sure to tell Tyrion where I parked it.”

Brienne nodded. The minute her father left the dome, he disappeared. Brienne felt a shiver of fear at how quickly it happened but reminded herself that it was just Obara’s shield doing its job. If she couldn’t see him, no one could.

“We should probably get you to the hospital to see Jaime,” Addam said. “Listen, Brienne, about all this. Your dad’s right. All the superheroes knew that the Tarths preferred secrecy, and we respected it because of what happened to Alysanne. But if _you_ are interested in making any…connections, we’d be glad to…”

“Addam, trying to steal your cousin’s girl is a bit much, even for you,” Gendry said.

“I’m not Jaime’s girlfriend,” Brienne protested.

“Uh-huh. Ignore the himbo, but his offer stands,” Arya said. “I mean, you know me already, you just didn’t _know_ me. But I’m dying to know where you learned some of your moves.”

“Same here!” Brienne exclaimed. “I’ve seen you and the way you get around is just…” She turned to Obara. “And I read that you’re an expert with a whip. I always wanted to see that.”

Obara smiled. “I think there’s a lot we can learn from each other.”

Gendry held up his watch. “Guys, message from Tyrion. They’ve just arrived at the hospital and are taking Jaime into X-ray. Sounds like he’s got some broken ribs and a possible broken leg. He says for Brienne to get a move on so she’ll be there when Jaime comes out.”

“Right,” Brienne said, guilt flooding her for getting so caught up in excitement that she forgot him. “Uh…I guess I could’ve hitched a ride with my dad.”

“Nah, you want to ride with me and Gendry and talk about water dancing,” Arya said. “Come on. We'll give you a lift.”

Brienne couldn’t stop smiling as she accepted the offer.

~*~*~*~*~*

By the time Brienne arrived at the hospital, Jaime had a confirmed broken leg, three broken ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. The doctors sent him to get an MRI done to make sure he didn’t have a concussion. Tyrion had been joined by Sansa and Margaery, who taken over the nicest of the family waiting rooms. Sansa still wore her black blouse, with the buttons done back up, but Margaery had changed into a faded pair of jeans and a violet cashmere sweater.

As soon as Brienne shut the door behind her, Tyrion flicked on a small device which he set in the middle of the small round table.

“We can talk without anyone overhearing us now,” Tyrion said. “I take it the others told you?”

Brienne glanced at Sansa and Margaery, who sat together on the couch across from the door, warily. They knew about her, but did they know about Tyrion?

“Don’t worry, they know about the others, too,” Tyrion assured her.

“Kind of hard not to when your sister woke you up on her thirteenth birthday by floating into your room,” Sansa grumbled. “I screamed so loud my mother thought an axe murderer was in the house.”

“Does Jaime know?” Brienne asked.

Tyrion shook his head. “I thought about telling him years ago, but…I don’t know. I guess I was getting off on having something special of my own that he’d never have, and he’d never know what he was missing.” Tyrion hung his head. “And yes, I do know how small and petty that makes me.”

“Makes you human,” Sansa said. “If it helps, I hate how curly his hair is. Completely wasted on him. _And_ his eyelashes. Why did he get such amazing eyelashes when I have to spend forever with a mascara wand just to get mine to be visible?”

Tyrion batted his eyelashes at her.

“I hate you, too.”

There was a knock at the door, and a nurse came in. “Mr. Lannister? Your father’s arrived and insists on being given an update on your brother.”

Tyrion snorted. “Tell him he can rot in the lowest of the seven hells. Tell him—you know what? No. I’ll go talk to him about how his skinflint ways nearly cost Jaime his life.” The nurse nodded and closed the door as Tyrion got up from his chair.

“Tyrion…” Brienne murmured. “ _I_ nearly cost Jaime his life. I know The Kraken planned to ransom him to your father, but I don’t think he would’ve targeted him if it hadn’t been for me.”

“Jaime wasn’t the only target on The Kraken’s list, but after you, he was the biggest. The Kraken sent his ransom demand to my father this morning along with a recording of Jaime to prove he had him. My father’s response? That he’d never pay a dime of the ransom. We’ll never know what The Kraken would’ve done to Jaime if he’d survived today, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been pretty.” Tyrion’s eyes—one black, one as green as Jaime’s—turned fierce. “He never doubted that The Kraken had Jaime, even though the Gold Cloaks kept insisting that Jaime was in protective custody. He just wouldn’t part with a godsdamned penny of his money to save him.” Tyrion threw open the door and left.

“And Tyrion would’ve given The Kraken every dragon he had,” Sansa said softly.

They were silent for a moment. Finally, Brienne had to ask, “How did you know about me? Did I give something away? Was it that time at Renly’s bachelor party when I had to take care of The Flayer?”

Sansa shook her head and looked slightly guilty. “I may have overheard a conversation or two. Your dad’s had a lot of talks with my mom about you. He worried for a while that you weren’t making a lot of friends, and that you didn’t seem close to the friends you had.”

Brienne felt a small chill. “Did your mother encourage you to stay friends with me because of that?”

“Gods, no! Brienne, you are the best friend I ever could have asked for. You’re loyal and smart and funny, not to mention that you’re an honest-to-gods _superhero_. You go out and save the world all the time and then walk around like you’re something ordinary when you _aren’t_. You’re awesome. I’m proud to have you as my friend. Stop trying to ditch me.”

“And me,” Margaery added. “Although I feel like I should be pissed off at the gods because there isn’t a superhero in my family. I would’ve thought that they at least would’ve considered giving us something by now if the Lannisters finally got a crack at it. We haven’t been nearly as awful as they have.”

“Would _you_ trust _your_ grandmother with a superhero in the family?” Sansa asked, eyebrow raised (a trick she’d learned from her mother).

“Of course not, darling, but that’s beside the point. It’s the principle of the thing.”

“Which one of them was Morning Star before Arya?” Brienne asked, figuring it was Catelyn.

“Dad.” Sansa smiled.

Brienne tried to reconcile the upright, taciturn Ned Stark floating in the air like his lithe, snarky daughter and couldn’t. She laughed.

“Yeah, I know. Weird, right? We didn’t know for the longest time, and then Arya floated into my room and he had to tell us. Then we refused to believe him until he took all of us flying. Except Arya, of course.”

Brienne hesitated, then asked, “Did your mom…once you guys knew, did you ever talk about how she reacted when she found out? Was she okay with your dad being a superhero?”

Sansa gave her a sympathetic look. “Mom said she almost left him when she found out, but she loved him enough to take the risk. Then she said she was surprised only one of her kids wound up being a superhero, since she came from a superhero family herself.”

Brienne puzzled it for a minute. Catelyn Stark had been a Tully before she married. Tully...fish... “Mermaid?” she asked.

“Merman right now—it’s my Uncle Edmure. And it’ll likely be Merman for a while to come, since he and Aunt Roslin just have boys.”

Brienne snorted. “If only Jaime could hear this conversation. He’d have proof that at least some of the superheroes came from the ancient family lines and had traits or abilities tied into the family sigils and whatnot. Although how did Starks end up being Morning Star instead of Daynes?”

“One of our ancestors was a Morning Star who married a Stark. Unlike the Tarths, she took her husband’s name after marriage.”

“I can imagine the fights some of your ancestors have had with their husbands over that one,” Margaery mused.

The door opened and Tyrion returned, looking much happier than he had before. “It frosts my father’s ass so bad that he’s not Jaime’s emergency contact,” he said. “I told the hospital that if anyone told Tywin about Jaime’s condition, I’d sue them for so much they’d be out of business by the time I was through.” He climbed back into the seat nearest the door. “So, where were we? Oh, yes, talking about how much Jaime and I look alike.” He batted his eyelashes at Sansa again. She ignored him.

“Any update on Jaime?” Margaery asked.

“Not out of MRI yet, he should be soon. I told the doctor his head’s too hard to break, but they insisted.” Tyrion folded his fingers across his chest in a move that reminded her of Jaime. He looked at Brienne. “My lady Evenstar, you look troubled.”

“I guess I’m just trying to take it all in. I did so much to keep my identity hidden and it seems like everyone knew all along.” Brienne felt a small lump in her throat. “I can guess why you didn’t say anything. You wanted me to tell you, and I didn’t.”

“We understood why you didn’t say anything,” Margaery said. “We got pissed off sometimes, but—

“ _You_ got pissed off, Margaery Tyrell, don’t drag me into that one.”

Margaery continued as if Sansa hadn’t spoken. “I’m just saying that if you feel guilty because you didn’t tell us, don’t. It’s not like you were keeping something big from us, like having a torrid affair with Jaime all these years.”

Tyrion muttered something that sounded like “he wishes,” but Brienne probably didn’t hear that right.

“I feel like a fool. You guys, the other superheroes, even the _Kingsguard_ knew who I was. Does the entire world know and they’re just humoring me when I skulk around in shadows to hide my identity?”

“No,” Tyrion said soothingly. “To be fair, Sansa shouldn’t know but she found out because she’s a big snoop.”

“Hey!” Sansa crossed her arms over her chest and gave Tyrion a dirty look.

“Which means _Margaery_ sure as seven hells shouldn’t know, but she found out because she’s the one making Sansa cry out to the Seven every night in bed.”

“Damn right I do,” Margaery said with a satisfied smile.

“The Kingsguard know because they’re the _Kingsguard_.”

“And what does that have to do with anything? They serve the Prime Minister—oh, gods, please tell me Bobby B doesn’t know who I am.”

Tyrion snickered. “Bobby B? Did you come up with that?”

“No, Selmy calls him that.”

“No shit?” Tyrion laughed harder. “Didn’t think he had it in him to be so disrespectful. I’ll remember that next time I see him. Even if the Prime Minister were savvier than he is, no one would tell him. Information like that is far too powerful for anyone in politics to have. But the Kingsguard serve the King and keep his secrets first and foremost, and…” He broke off and looked at Sansa briefly.

Sansa rolled her eyes. “You honestly think I don’t know? He’s my great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle.”

“You left out at least two greats, but close enough.” Tyrion turned back to Brienne. “King Brandon X Stark is the Three-Eyed Crow.”

Somehow, after the day she’d had, that didn’t come as a surprise. Very little was known about the Three-Eyed Crow, except that he was immortal and there were suspicions that he was the source of the original superheroes’ powers, and not the gods as everyone assumed.

Little more was known about King Brandon, Tenth of His Name, except that he had been in a wheelchair all his life, as his ancestors had been since the first Brandon ascended to the throne in the aftermath of all the wars preceding the Second Long Night. Maesters attributed King Brandon’s inability to walk to a genetic abnormality and begged the king to allow them to do research on him to correct the problem.

“Guess that tosses the abnormality thing out the window,” Brienne murmured.

Sansa snorted. “Funny you should say that, because according to Bran—my brother Bran, not the king—the Three-Eyed Crow was paralyzed after a fall from a tower window when he was seven.”

“And according to Lannister legend, he was pushed out the window by the Kingslayer,” Tyrion finished. “So there you have it. The King knows about superheroes, whether you believe the old story that he created us, which means the Kingsguard knows. And since they protect his secrets under penalty of death, our identities are safe with them.”

“Seems risky to me,” Brienne said. “So many people know now. I just…I don’t know if I’m ready to accept that you guys know, because if a villain finds out that you know, you’ll be in danger. At least the superheroes can protect themselves.”

Margaery leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees. “Sansa’s lived with that risk her entire life as the daughter of a Morning Star and the sister of another. She knew what being your friend meant, and she became your friend anyway. When things got serious between us, she told me the truth about everything—you, her dad, her super-great-uncle, even Bran being The Librarian—”

“What?” Brienne yelped. She looked at Sansa. _“Bran’s The Librarian?”_

“Do _not_ get me started on him,” Sansa said. “But yes, he’s The Librarian.”

“Not much of one lately,” Tyrion grumbled.

“Let me finish,” Margaery said impatiently. “Sansa told me all this, and it freaked me out. But when I think of everything I would’ve missed out on if we hadn’t been friends, the risk that something _might_ happen doesn’t seem that important. I don’t regret being your friend for a minute.”

Brienne burst into tears. Margaery and Sansa came around the table and hugged her, and she thought she felt a small hand pat her knee over and over.

There was a knock at the door again. The same nurse popped her head in and said, “We’re keeping him overnight for observation, but it looks like he’s going to be fine. They’re getting him set up in a room now. Give us about half an hour, and he’ll be ready for visitors.”

~*~*~*~*~*

Tyrion, Sansa, and Margaery all insisted that Brienne not only be the first person to see Jaime, but also that she go alone. Brienne couldn’t figure out what they were up to, but she wanted to see Jaime too much not to question it beyond asking, “Are you sure?”

They were sure.

Brienne reached room 317 and opened the door. She peeked around it, not sure what she’d find. Jaime noticed her right away. “Brienne,” he said. “You finally made it.”

“You’ve been in this room for all of ten, fifteen minutes tops,” she replied, walking toward him and sitting in the chair next to his bed. She looked at his leg in the cast and thought of the ribs bound underneath the thin hospital gown. “I don’t know how you’re going to survive however long it takes for that to heal.”

“Eh. I’ll have to have someone take care of me.” Jaime smiled as best he could with part of his mouth bandaged from that cut. Even what she could see of it wasn’t his usual kind of smile. This one seemed softer somehow, like Jaime with the edges blurred. “Would you take care of me, Brienne?”

Brienne wanted to say yes. Instead, she said, “I’ll find you a pretty nurse.”

“What if I don’t want a pretty nurse?”

“All men want pretty nurses,” Brienne replied.

“I’m not all men. I’m just me.” His eyes flickered up and down her body. “You got hurt. How did you get hurt?”

He was obviously still zonked, as he didn’t remember asking that question earlier. “Um, I got hurt in the crush of people trying to get out a back door,” she said. It wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Did you get checked out? There’s an opening in an MRI machine downstairs.”

Brienne smiled. “I’m sure I’ll have a bad headache in the morning, but I don’t need an MRI.”

“Just looking out for you the way you look out for me.” Jaime held his right hand out to her. She took it, blinking back tears as she thought of how close she’d come to never being able to see him again. “I know you want to say it, so go ahead and say it.”

“Say what?” Brienne asked.

“ _You_ know. The four little words you’ve been dying to say to me forever. Now’s your chance. You only get the one.” When she didn’t say anything, he pretended to frown. “Come oooooonnn. You can do it. Repeat after me. I. Told. You. So.”

Brienne shook her head. “No. Not doing it. Not after you nearly died. That would be wrong.”

“C’mon. I’d do it to you if our roles were reversed.” Jaime gave her hand a light squeeze.

“You would not.”

“Aah, you’re right, because you’d never let yourself get in a situation where it would happen.” His grip on her hand loosened a bit.

“Jaime, this didn’t happen because you were researching superheroes.”

“I know. He told me—The Kraken. Said he’d had his eye on me for a while, just like Evenstar thought. For the money. And because Dad is who he is. Said he’d send me back to him piece by piece if he didn’t pay up, but he prob’ly would’ve done it either way. Maybe The Evenstar’s the one who should say ‘I told you so,’ because she did.” Jaime’s eyes drifted shut.

Brienne had so many questions she wanted to ask Jaime about what had happened with The Kraken and how he’d come across Archie Haereg in the first place, but one question sprang to her lips before she could stop it. “How do you know The Evenstar’s a woman?”

There was that smile again. “After the robbery at the jewelry store, I waited around the Gold Cloaks precinct to talk to her. She looked terrible—I don’t know if you saw the news reports, but she got beat up pretty good by The Kraken that first time. She went to hide in this alley, and I followed her. Grabbed her shoulder, which I guess really hurt, because she swooned.”

 _“Swooned?!”_ she said, outraged.

“Yeah. Just sort of fell into my arms. Her head fell back, and I looked down at her and saw her throat. No apple.”

“No apple?”

“Yeah.” Jaime let go of her hand and trailed his hand along the line of his throat. Brienne swallowed heavily and reminded herself that Jaime was in no condition for her to be thinking of him in any way but as a friend. “See mine?”

Brienne knew she was blushing and hoped Jaime would attribute it to her confusion.

“Men get the apple. Women usually don’t. The Evenstar didn’t have one, so it was a good bet that she was a woman.”

Brienne tilted her head back and brushed her fingers against the column of her own throat and realized what Jaime was talking about. _For the Seven’s sake, I never thought something that simple would give me away._

“I see.” When she lowered her head, Jaime’s expression was almost…hungry. She’d seen it before, at the end of their dance at his sabbatical party. It was no less confusing now. She cleared her throat and decided a change of subject was in order. “Tyrion and I were talking while you were getting checked out, and I think we’ve come up with a solution to this whole ‘needing someone to take care of you’ thing. What would you say to spending some time on Tarth?”

Jaime’s expression brightened. “I would love it!”

“You would?”

“Sure! Gods, I’ve always wanted to go to Tarth. We could go to that place you’re always talking about where they make those amazing lemoncakes. You can take me to the local museum and tell me all the history. We can walk on the beach, when I can walk again, and…and I can find out if the waters of the Sapphire Isle are as blue as your eyes.”

Brienne sighed. Apparently, painkillers made him dopey and flirty. “I wouldn’t be able to go with you,” she said. “I have summer class to teach, remember?”

“You’re sending me to Tarth without you?” Jaime sounded hurt.

“I might be able to come to see you for a day or two. But I’m not leaving you alone. You’d actually stay at my Uncle Endrew’s guest house, so you’d have your independence while also having someone in your business all the time.” He looked unconvinced. “Uncle Endrew’s house is on the beach, and while it’s not up to Lannister standards, it’s big enough. The guest house is comfortable, and they’ve got all the amenities. You can sit on the back deck, listen to nature, maybe get caught up on the latest graphic novels.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Jaime sounded a lot less excited than he had a minute ago.

“Well, if you don’t want to—”

There was a knock on the door, and the other three spilled into the room. Relieved, Brienne turned to Tyrion. “Your brother’s being stubborn. I told him about Tarth and he’s not interested.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested,” Jaime protested weakly.

“You did everything but.”

Tyrion and Jaime broke into an argument, with occasional commentary from Sansa and Margaery. Brienne stayed silent and watched them badger Jaime into accepting the inevitable with a small smile on her face.

 _My friends,_ she thought with no small amount of pride. _I swear by the old gods and the new that I will always protect you. Always._


	13. Part XIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part XIII: In which Brienne gets everything she always wanted. And so does Jaime. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! It's been quite a ride for me to get here, and I want to thank everyone for hanging in there with me!!

_Two Months Later._

On a hot afternoon in late July, Brienne finished reading through the last of the papers with a smile. Either she was getting mellow, or this summer’s bunch of students were better writers than most of the ones she’d dealt with in the spring. She recorded the final grade and sent them off to Dr. Tarly.

Someone knocked on her door. She looked up and there was Jaime lounging in her doorway, cane in one hand, walking boot on the opposite leg.

He looked a lot better than he had when she’d last seen him. The cut running from the corner of his mouth to his chin had pretty much healed, leaving a scar that she just _knew_ would get him plenty of girls. His hair was longer than she’d ever seen it, blond curls falling into his eyes.

 _Gods, why did you have to make him so pretty?_ she thought.

“Hey, you’re back!” she said with a smile, getting up from her desk to give him a hug. “I see Tarth agreed with you!”

He put his arms around her and held her close. Was it her, or did he seem to be holding her closer than he had when they’d hugged in the past? She tried not to think about how he’d clutched at her in the stairwell, because he hadn’t been hugging her, Brienne.

“Yeah, you could say that,” he replied. “Your Aunt Alayne kept insisting I needed to eat healthy but then snuck cookies into the guest house when I’d be out on the beach. Your Uncle Endrew…” His mouth twisted into a grimace. “Does he ask everyone such pointed questions about their views on marriage and children?”

“Oh, gods,” Brienne groaned. She pulled back from the embrace. “I wish I could say no, but I’m afraid sending you out there gave him the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea?”

“Yeah, he probably thought…” Brienne blushed. “…that you meant more to me than just a friend. Sorry about that. I should’ve warned you. I hope he didn’t embarrass you too much.”

“Aah, it’s okay. If it makes you feel any better, he wanted me to pass a message on to you: ‘he passed.’” Jaime gave her that familiar smile that made her want to melt into goo, and as she expected, it was even sexier with the scar.

However, his message…

“Ignore him. He’s just sticking his crooked Tarth nose in where it doesn’t belong,” Brienne said, returning to her seat. She saw the look Jaime was giving the chair across from hers. “Sit down, you big baby.”

“That chair is scarier than The Kraken.”

“Oh, really? When did the chair ever kidnap you, suspend you from a ceiling rafter, and threaten to send you back to your father in pieces?”

Jaime glanced at the chair. “It’s been trying to take a bite out of my ass for years. I think that counts. How about if we go for a walk instead? It’s a nice day out.”

Brienne’s eyebrows rose. “It’s hotter than the seven hells out there.” But something occurred to her. Jaime had spent three weeks being the unwitting target of an insane, supernatural force of nature. He’d been threatened, locked up, kidnapped, beaten, and nearly killed. If he hadn’t been claustrophobic before all of that, he might be now, and no one could blame him. The least she could do was endure the heat for his sake. She stood up. “Okay. I’ll spare you the chair today.”

Once outside, Jaime took two breaths of humid air and grimaced. “Maybe we’d be better off in your office,” he said, but he made no move to go back indoors. “Want to walk in the godswood?”

“Decided to take up a religious life?” Brienne asked.

“No, but it’s a wooded area. Trees. Shade. A pool we can wade in.”

“You’re not supposed to wade in the godswood pool!” Brienne wasn’t overly religious, but even she knew better than to do that.

“Oops,” Jaime said as he walked in that direction. Brienne followed, if for no other reason than to keep Jaime from befouling the pool and getting sent to one of the seven hells when he died.

They were silent for the first few minutes, and Brienne sensed Jaime was fine with that. While part of her was relieved—the man really could drive her up the wall with all his talking—part of her was unsettled. A silent Jaime wasn’t _her_ Jaime.

_Your Jaime? He was never your Jaime. And even though he hasn’t mentioned her to you, you know there’s another woman in his life, so he’ll never be your Jaime._

“You really are looking good,” she said, because her tongue hadn’t caught up with that little update from her brain.

“Kind of hard not to look better when the last time you saw me, I’d been beat to shit.” Jaime ran a hand through his hair. “Listen, I didn’t spend all my time on Tarth.”

“Oh, yeah, Uncle Endrew said you’d taken off for a week and when you came back, you spent all your time on the porch with your laptop.”

Jaime smiled again. “You checked up on me? That’s so sweet,” he drawled.

Brienne gave him a disgruntled look. “I don’t know why I bothered.”

“Too late. Caught you caring about me.” They’d reached the outer edges of the godswood and the shade of the smaller trees. “I always thought I’d enjoy sitting on a beach, relaxing, and reading just for fun. Turns out I got bored in about two weeks.”

“Dammit. I owe Tyrion ten dragons. I figured you’d hold out for a least a month before complaining about being bored.” Brienne sighed. “I’m sorry. Tarth isn’t exactly Party Central.”

“Don’t you dare apologize. Tarth was exactly what I needed in more ways than one. If I’d gone somewhere else, I would’ve pushed myself to do more than I should’ve, and I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet your family. Besides, I only said I got bored sitting on the beach and reading a book that should’ve been fun but was boring as all hells. After I realized I was bored, I went exploring.”

“Exploring?” Brienne wasn’t sure what that meant, and she couldn’t puzzle it out from his expression. “I know there are a few ruins from the old marble mines out there, but that doesn’t seem like your type of thing no matter how bored you got.”

They’d reached the center of the godswood, home to the giant, twisted white weirwood tree that had been planted when the university had been built. It towered over the rest of the trees with ease even though several of those trees had been planted at the same time as the weirwood. Only in the last hundred years had the iron-wrought benches been placed all around the tree. “My leg’s bothering me a bit. Would you be okay if we sat down?”

“Of course.” Brienne sat on one of the benches. Jaime sat beside her, his left leg brushing hers. _Were these benches always this small?_

Despite the smallness of the bench, Brienne was glad Jaime had suggested coming here. It felt peaceful and calming, which she supposed was the point of the godswood in the first place.

“You said you’d gone exploring on Tarth?” she said.

“Oh, yeah. I went to the Tarth History Museum at Evenfall.” 

Brienne had been there once or twice, a long time ago. The history was okay, but she’d really only been interested in the armor reported to belong to the Blue Knight. But to someone like Jaime, it had probably been paradise. She smiled. “How many days did you spend in there?”

“Only two days,” he said defensively. “I could’ve spent more but I found something that caught my attention.”

“What was it?”

“A suit of armor that the docent insisted belonged to the Blue Knight, despite some smug jackass telling her that there was no way the Blue Knight came from Tarth because she _had_ to be a Mormont.”

“This smug jackass wouldn’t be named Jaime Lannister, would he?”

“He just might. Anyway, said smug jackass left the museum determined to prove to the museum that they were wrong, and he was right.” A leaf drifted down from the weirwood tree and landed in Jaime’s lap. He picked it up and toyed with it.

“Because embarrassing the main history museum on his good friend’s ancestral home is always fun. Was the reason you spent ‘only two days’ at the museum because you found something else to do, or were you asked not to come back?”

“It was a mutual separation agreement.” Another leaf dropped. Jaime reached out and caught it. “So like I said, I left the museum and decided to find something to prove my theory was correct. What I found was that the origins of the Blue Knight aren’t entirely known. I thought historians agreed that she was a Mormont, but there have been a lot of guesses over the years. Dacey Mormont’s the most popular, but there have been legitimate cases made for others over the years—a Wildling or two, Lyanna Mormont, this sellsword called Pretty Meris. And of course, Tarth’s always believed that the last Evenstar’s heir was the Blue Knight.” He began tying the stems of the two leaves together.

Another leaf fell. Brienne tried to grab it, but the wind blew it into Jaime’s lap and there was no way she was reaching for it _there_.

“Since I couldn’t find anything to disprove that the heir was the Blue Knight, I decided to see why Tarth believed so strongly that she was. The docent’s argument was kind of pathetic—basically, it boiled down to the fact that Tarth had armor made of blue steel, in a size that suggests the Blue Knight was a large woman, and from the correct era.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound convincing,” she admitted with a wince.

“I went to the library nearby and asked to check out the rare book collection. After some gentle persuading…”

“ _Flirting,_ ” Brienne teased, knowing Tarth’s librarian was a sweet older woman who had a fondness for handsome men.

“Can I help it if she thought I was cute? The librarian let me take a look at Tarth’s rare book collection, which included something I’d never seen before. I even tried to look for it online, but no one else has ever heard of it. Tarth’s got the only copy.”

Brienne’s curiosity was aroused. “What was it?”

“The journal was written by a Septon Meribald, and it was about his time spent traveling the Riverlands. He talks about meeting ‘the Maid of Tarth,’ a girl of twenty in blue armor, and her young companion, a boy by the name of Podrick. He was with them for a while until she was captured by the Brotherhood without Banners.” He paused and picked up the third leaf. He twirled it in his hands. “The Brotherhood released him soon after and he never saw her in person again, but he did hear a bit more about her.”

Brienne rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me—Kingslayer’s whore, blah blah.”

“He did mention ‘salacious and unfounded rumors,’ but he never acknowledged that they might have a kernel of truth. No, what he heard was that she and her companions joined up with a group of knights who rescued a young girl, believed to be one of the missing Stark daughters, from the Eyrie and took her north to her home—in Winterfell.” Jaime smiled. “He also wrote that people were referring to her as ‘the Blue Knight’ because of the color of her armor.”

“You’re telling me the book we needed all along to prove our claim that Brienne of Tarth was the Blue Knight was moldering away in our very own library?” Brienne groaned and buried her head in her hands.

Jaime shrugged. “How often does someone go into that library and ask to look at old books? Most things have gone digital.”

“I probably glanced at that book a thousand times when I was a kid and never thought about reading through it."

“The book goes a long way to proving the claim, but it doesn’t absolutely confirm it. Meribald didn’t have proof that she was with the knights that rescued the Stark girl and went north, only that he believed so because of the armor.”

“Huh.” Part of Brienne was fascinated because she’d never thought there would be any actual proof linking Tarth with the Blue Knight. They’d always claimed she was because they had the armor, the measurements of which matched exactly another suit of armor that had been recorded and confirmed as belonging to Brienne of Tarth, but few took that seriously. But another part of her was nervous, because…

“So with that in mind, I decided to go to Winterfell to see what they might have there.”

Brienne’s mouth went dry. “A lot of rain, this time of year,” she said.

He laughed. “Yeah, my first purchase was a raincoat and a pair of boots. What do they have against umbrellas up there?”

“Sansa says it’s a Northerner thing.”

“She would.” Another weirwood leaf fell into Jaime’s lap. He handed it to Brienne. “Unlike Tarth, Winterfell’s library is very modern and up-to-date. Easy databases to search through, the latest books galore…and apparently the nerdiest Stark ever to nerd, Brandon Stark, running the place.”

Brienne thought of Bran’s antics during The Kraken nightmare. “He’s definitely odd.”

“Yeah. When I asked him for information on the Blue Knight, he stared at me for what seemed like hours before he helped me out, but what he gave me had to do with the aftermath of the fight with the Others and not the battles themselves. I didn’t understand at first.”

Brienne’s mirth died as quickly as it had come. She shredded the leaf in her hand. Why would Bran have given Jaime…

“He invited me to come stay with his family since I was going to be at Winterfell for a while, which I thought was strange since I’d told him I was only in town for one night and was going back to Tarth the next day. But I’ve heard Sansa brag so much about her mother’s cooking that I had to see if the reality matched up.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Sansa’s family is great, but of course you know that. Your father came over and we had a good talk. We had a lot of good talks.” Jaime’s face changed expression, but Brienne couldn’t figure it out before it was gone. “After supper, Bran took me to the family library and pulled out this huge journal. Then he said: ‘The thing you’ve been looking for all along is here.’ The way he said it was weird. It was like that time we got our fortunes told at the City Museum carnival.”

“I’m still waiting to take that trip across the ocean where I’ll meet a handsome man,” Brienne said.

“Me, too. The journal was a detailed account of events after the Second Long Night ended. A very detailed account.” Jaime paused. “So detailed that I fell asleep reading through the maester’s account of how many pigs were slaughtered for the feast celebrating the defeat of the Others. Or maybe it was all the marriages and births that took place within nine months of the end—no, that one held my interest because of what I found.”

_Oh no. No no no. Bran, you’re the damned Librarian! What did you do?_

“Back at that museum on Tarth, I asked the docent what had happened to the Evenstar’s heir. She told me what you did—that it was believed she died in the Second Long Night, and even though the Evenstar lived about ten years after her presumed death, he never named someone else his heir.” Jaime smiled. “I have a new theory about that, because if she was indeed the Blue Knight, she not only survived, she got married.”

“She…did?”

“Yes! It was recorded in the journal that one Lady Brienne of House Tarth was married to Ser Jaime of House Lannister.”

“Well…” Brienne paused as though considering this information. “I suppose that explains why she was presumed dead in the battle. She married the Kingslayer and the Evenstar disowned her.”

“That’s what most people would think, but that’s the best part of this discovery. Leave out the names of the people involved—according to legend, who did the Blue Knight marry?” Jaime’s eyes were shining.

Brienne recognized that look and it warmed her heart, because she hadn’t seen it since the day he’d told her about his plan to write about superheroes. “Goldenhand the Just,” she replied.

Jaime nodded. “Did I ever tell you about the Lannister family legend that the Kingslayer and Goldenhand the Just were one and the same? It’s my favorite.”

“I thought your favorite legend was the one where the Imp killed his father on the privy with a crossbow.”

“No, that’s _Tyrion’s_ favorite, probably because he dreamed of taking out our father the same way. Everything adds up. Lady Brienne of Tarth was the Blue Knight. She ran around with the Kingslayer enough that people gave her that unsavory nickname. She came north, fought against the Others, survived the battle, and married him. Since we know the Blue Knight married Goldenhand the Just, that means…”

“Oh, Jaime, that’s wonderful!” Brienne twisted on the bench and put her arms around him, feeling the weight of fear fall from her shoulders. “You proved your favorite legend was true!”

“I did. Dr. Dull’s going to be thrilled when he hears that I actually accomplished something with my time.” Jaime leaned into her embrace, then pulled back. “But after I crowed the news from the top of the Starks’ roof, I realized that something didn’t make sense.”

“What?”

“Jaime Lannister’s name was mud throughout the Seven Kingdoms before the Second Long Night, but he _did_ become Goldenhand the Just. I can see a father not being happy with his daughter marrying the Kingslayer, but Goldenhand? Why would he object to that?”

“Perhaps he was stubborn and set in his ways,” Brienne suggested.

“A Tarth, stubborn and set in their ways? Never would’ve guessed.” They both laughed at that. “I suppose there were those who still didn’t approve of Goldenhand even after he proved his valor in the Second Long Night, and the last Evenstar might’ve been among them. But his daughter _did_ marry and have a child.”

Brienne had braced herself for that, knowing if he’d found the record of her marriage, he’d find the record of the Blue Knight’s child. _No big deal, he’s just working through everything about his discovery…_

“We have no proof he disowned her but given that she didn’t become the Evenstar herself after his death, that’s a good guess. Except for the child. The maester documented that seven months after their marriage, the Lady Brienne was delivered of a healthy male child, named Galladon Tarth.” Jaime turned his head to look at her. “Did they give the child her family name because they felt the child would do better in the world if it wasn’t a Lannister? Had the Evenstar disowned her, and they hoped giving the child the Tarth name would put them back in his good graces? And if the Evenstar disowned his daughter, why didn’t he name someone else his heir?”

“All excellent questions, and none we’re likely to get answers to,” Brienne said, forcing sadness into her voice.

Jaime shifted on the bench and reached into his back pocket. He took out his wallet, opened it, and pulled out a much-folded piece of paper. He handed it to Brienne.

“Read it,” he said.

Brienne unfolded the paper. It was a slightly fuzzy photocopy of what looked like a very old letter, dated nine years after the Second Long Night ended.

_Dearest Father,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. Jaime and I had hoped to come see you now that summer has come, but I find myself with child again at last. Although I have reassured him that I would be perfectly fine to travel for several months, Jaime will not hear of it. Maester Medrick agrees with him, which is irksome. I can hear you now, agreeing with both of them, remembering my mother, and it is for you and my sweet mother’s sake that I remain where I am._

_We are all well here at Winterfell. I find it passing strange that Jaime can spend his days in contentment as the Master at Arms, when once he was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. I asked him if he missed it. He says he does not. He says that he feels a sense of peace here at Winterfell that he has never felt anywhere. He spent so much time doing what he could to repair the keep after the battle with the Others that Winterfell feels like home to him in a way Casterly Rock had not since his mother died. I have not had the heart to tell him, but I do not feel the same. Not that Winterfell and its inhabitants have not made me feel welcome, but this is not my home. Tarth is my home, and I long for nothing more than to see it again, even if it will not be as I remember it._

_Galladon has grown so much that the seamstresses despair of him ever wearing a pair of breeches for more than a month before needing a new pair. I suppose their consolation is that there are always other children who need clothed, so the breeches do not go to waste. The older he gets, the more he looks like me, except for his hair. Those golden curls are pure Lannister. Jaime says that his looks and height are not the only things Galladon got from me. He seems to be unusually strong for a boy his age. Lady Arya teases that his strength should come as no surprise given that his mother is the Blue Knight and a descendant of Ser Duncan the Tall. She says that Galladon may one day be as strong as their stableboy, a simple man who went by the name Hodor._

_Now that you know that there is another child to come, I hope you will reconsider your plans to name Estermont’s son your heir_

The letter ended there. Brienne looked at Jaime, not sure what to say. Not sure what this meant.

Jaime cleared his throat. “The maester made a small notation in his journal that a raven arrived from Tarth announcing the death of the last Evenstar. The date was the day after this letter was started. A week later, Lady Brienne miscarried. There’s no record that she ever had another child.”

“And then lesser lords of the Stormlands fought over Tarth until King Bran I decided he’d had enough and appointed his older sister and her husband the Lady and Lord of Tarth. The Evenstar title was dissolved,” Brienne said in a shaky voice. “Where did you find this?”

“It was tucked away in the back of the journal. I like to imagine that Ser Jaime found the letter and hid it away so his wife wouldn’t have to see it again.” Jaime took the paper back from Brienne and put it back in his wallet.

“That’s nice to think.” Another weirwood leaf drifted into Brienne’s hands.

“Presumably, the Evenstar didn’t name Galladon his heir because he believed Galladon would inherit Casterly Rock. That didn’t happen, though. Tyrek Lannister, who had been presumed dead in the bread riots during the War of the Five Kings, resurfaced and was given the title. And thank the gods, because he’s my ancestor. So what happened that prevented Galladon from inheriting?” Jaime was now staring at her with such intent that she felt like squirming. “Care to guess?”

Brienne shrugged uneasily and looked down at her weirwood leaf.

“When Galladon was ten, the maester wrote of an unusual incident where he saved the life of a smaller boy when a wagon collapsed on them. Galladon lifted the wagon off them as easily as if he was lifting a baby. The other boy’s legs were crushed, but Galladon spent only a couple of weeks in bed before he was up and running everywhere like nothing had happened. Does any of this sound familiar?”

She didn’t respond.

“Then how about this? Galladon married one of Sansa Stark and Willas Tyrell’s daughters. They had three children—a boy and two girls. One of the girls had unusual speed. She never married but had a child who was legitimized by King Bran I, a boy named Endrew. Endrew didn’t show any special physical abilities, but there were rumors that objects would move around in his presence. The superhuman strength and telekinesis were no doubt because of being descended from Ser Duncan the Tall, as the letter states. Where the occasional pyrokinesis came from is anybody’s guess, but that ability didn’t show up until your great-grandmother and it doesn’t look like an easy power to have.”

“Stray recessive Targaryen gene,” Brienne whispered, thinking of how close her father had come to dying, and how living in the cold of the North had helped him heal and stay safe.

“The line continues for centuries, the abilities carefully hidden from most of the world unless you knew where to look for them. It became an unwritten tradition that some female Tarths kept their maiden names after marriage and passed that name on to their children long after there was any risk of the Tarth name dying out. I followed the line all the way to Selwyn Tarth…and to his daughter.”

Brienne blinked back tears. Sansa and Margaery hadn’t hated her for keeping this a secret from them all these years, but they’d also known even if she hadn’t known they’d known.

Jaime was different. Jaime had been fascinated with superheroes for most of his life. He’d even taken a sabbatical to do research on them. She’d actively lied to him about who she was—before, during, and after his ordeal with The Kraken.

Worst of all, she loved him. She’d told herself she just had a crush because it was easier for her to dismiss her feelings if she could minimize them and treat them as nothing, but she’d always known better. She’d loved Jaime Lannister almost from the moment they’d met. And now he knew the truth about her. All the secrets and lies were exposed and now he would be disappointed. The Evenstar, the person he’d been fascinated by for so long that he’d kissed her in the middle of a life-and-death situation, was just ordinary Brienne Tarth.

_No. I will not cry. I will own up to my lies and accept that Jaime will never want anything more to do with me._

Brienne sniffled and raised her head to look at him. She’d barely met his gaze when he tilted his head, leaned in, and kissed her. There was nothing tentative or uncertain about this kiss, as there had been when he’d kissed The Evenstar. His hand cupped the back of her head, fingers burrowing into her lank blond hair. She closed her eyes and moaned into his mouth as he deepened the kiss, never wanting it to end, knowing it had to, not sure what this meant and not caring.

Jaime pulled back. His mouth was still close to hers and if Brienne were braver, she’d pull him back to her and kiss him until neither of them could breathe. But that wasn’t her. As she drew back, his hand left her hair, moved down her shoulder, her arm, and then took hold of her hand, linking their fingers together.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, voice trembling.

The gleam in Jaime’s green eyes made her think he wanted to laugh but didn’t dare. “I’m on a bench in a godswood with an extraordinary woman. Why wouldn’t I want to kiss her?”

“Because…because I’m Brienne. I’m just Brienne.”

“You’ve never been ‘just Brienne’ to me,” Jaime said. “You started out as the annoying literary snob at the university luncheon where we met, but I quickly realized that there was so much more to you. I could talk all day about how fascinating you are, but you wouldn’t believe me. Even when you wear a mask, you don’t believe you’re truly exceptional.” He paused. “Except for when you went off on Slynt. That was incredible. Did anyone get video of that?”

“Jaime…”

His other hand came up to caress her cheek, his thumb stroking along her jaw. “I get why. You’ve spent most of your life maintaining the image of an average, ordinary life that you believe it, but it’s not true. You’re compassionate and warm and sometimes funny. You’re stubborn and frustrating and you have the weirdest interests.” He smiled. “And before you comment, I know how that sounds coming from me.”

“I’m also The Evenstar,” she said quietly. “How much of this is because of that?”

His eyes closed as he grimaced. He opened his eyes and stared directly into hers. “None of it. Yes, I kissed you when you were The Evenstar, but I regretted it because I felt like I was cheating on…well, you. I even told you that.”

_“I didn’t even mean to kiss you, because there’s someone else and she’s amazing.”_

“You meant me?” she asked.

“Or course I meant you! I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass. I’ve been in love with you for a while now. Just ask Tyrion. He would’ve told you himself, but he’s enjoyed my misery too much.” Jaime’s hand dropped from her face to run a hand through his hair. “I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t figure out how to get you to believe me. I figured it would take holding a boombox over my head with some sappy boyband love song playing to convince you. Instead, I went to Jalabhar’s and bought you a diamond and sapphire pendant. I was going to give it to you…hells, I was trying to find the right time to give it to you, only then everything went haywire.”

Brienne smiled and thought about something her father had told her in the two months since The Kraken. _Sometimes, you have to take things on faith, starling. They don’t make sense, but that’s life for you._

“Do you forgive me for not telling you all this time?” she asked.

Jaime hesitated. “I was pretty angry at first. That was one of the talks I had with your dad, about why you didn’t tell anyone. He told me to go back to Tarth and work through how I felt before seeing you again. So, I did.” He smiled. “And I realized that you told me a while back.”

“No, I didn’t.” Brienne was certain she would remember doing that.

“You did, during our fight. You yelled at me that I didn’t have the right to expose who The Evenstar was because I had a crush on _her_.”

“No, I said—” Brienne put her hand to her mouth, thinking back to that fight. What had she said?

“You almost always referred to The Evenstar by gender-neutral pronouns when most people assumed he was a man, except that one time in our fight. Sometimes slips of the tongue reveal the truth. Deep down, part of you wanted to tell me.” Jaime leaned in and whispered, “You’re a superhero, but you didn’t want to save me from danger all the time. And that’s why you said nothing. Wasn’t it?”

Brienne shivered, feeling his breath on her cheek. He brushed his lips along the underside of her jaw. “Wasn’t it?” he repeated.

“Yes,” she moaned softly, and then he was kissing her again, more passionately than any man had kissed her before, and she wanted to be closer to him than she could be on this bench…

She pulled away abruptly. “Oh gods…we’re in the _godswood_!”

Jaime looked around them and laughed. “So we are, Brienne. In the old religion, I think we’d be considered married.”

“I think it took more this, but that doesn’t mean we should be making out on a bench in the godswood where anyone could see us.” Brienne untangled herself from Jaime and the bench and stood up. “We should—”

“Wait, wait. I have more to tell you, and you should sit down for this.”

Brienne sat down again and grasped his hand in hers.

“It took me most of the week at Winterfell to piece everything together. There were a couple of times when I thought I might be reaching, but the connection was always there. At the end of the week, Bran asked me if I’d learned what I needed to know. I told him that I had. Then he said he had a proposition for me.”

“Okay.”

“Did you know he’s your Librarian?”

“I didn’t until recently,” Brienne said. “And the next time I’m in Winterfell, I’m kicking his ass for leaving me in the lurch when I needed his help with The Kraken.”

“There wasn’t any more information in your database than Haereg had,” Jaime said. “I agree, kick his ass because he flaked out on you when you needed him, but he wasn’t going to be any more help to you. But this whole mess made him realize how thin he’s stretched trying to keep your database secure _and_ your information up to date. He wants to split the job into two roles: database maintenance and database security. He’s much more interested in the security end of the deal.”

Brienne saw that look in his eyes, that gleam of excitement. It was like someone had offered him… “Bran asked you to be The Librarian,” she said.

“Technically, the offer came from the Three-Eyed Crow talking through Bran, which is only the third creepiest thing I’ve seen this year. But yes, the offer was made.”

Brienne looked over to the heart tree, with its twisted trunk and the eyes she thought she saw staring back at her and worked out how she felt about this. There had been only one attack on a Librarian in all the years of superheroes, and that had been foiled by the Three-Eyed Crow within seconds. Jaime would never be completely safe from danger, but this was the closest he’d get.

“Okay,” she said. “I know that if you ever had a dream job, this would be it. If you’re okay with me being a superhero, I’m okay with you being The Librarian.”

Jaime looked startled, and then he laughed. “Dammit. I owe Bran twenty dragons. Or maybe I owe the Three-Eyed Crow. I’m not sure which of them was at the wheel when I told them I couldn’t accept because I knew you wouldn’t like it, and they said, ‘you’ll be back, and the role will be waiting.’”

“You’ll have to give up the superhero book,” she said. “There’s no way—”

“Oh, I know. Can’t be putting my own brother at risk of discovery.”

Brienne’s eyes widened. “Did Bran tell you about Tyrion?”

“No. Tyrion heard about the offer and came to see me when I was back on Tarth. He didn’t want me to find out when I saw his name in the archives. I didn’t believe him at first, but then we went from a beach on Tarth to Catelyn Stark’s kitchen in Winterfell before I could blink. If that didn’t convince me, the trip back did.” Jaime grinned. “I tried not to geek out about how cool it was. I know he didn’t get superpowers just to impress people.”

“Did he tell you about what we’re going to do in the future?”

“Yes, and I’m glad. I saw what being the only person trying to defeat The Kraken did to you. I don’t know how often Elementals show up, not yet anyway, but standing together to defeat something like that should be protocol for superheroes.”

Brienne nodded because she was right. She’d been wrong for so much of her life, thinking she had to go it alone, and now she knew she didn’t. More than that—she knew she _hadn’t,_ even when she’d thought she had.

“I love you,” she whispered. She wanted to tell him that she’d loved him as long as he said he’d loved her, and one day soon she would. Today, it was enough for her to stop dismissing her feelings and admit the truth. “I love you so much.”

And then Jaime kissed her again, and again, and she no longer cared that they were in a godswood. Hells, her powers had come from the gods and Jaime was half a god himself, so what better place would there be to...She opened her eyes when Jaime stopped kissing her and saw him with a smile so sharp it could cut glass.

“What’s that smile for?” she asked.

“I just thought of something. I can’t wait to see the look on my father’s face when I introduce him to our first daughter…Joanna Tarth. He’s been on me so long about getting married and producing the next generation of Lannisters, and my children are going to be Tarths. Good thing my superpower is persuasion, otherwise he might disinherit me.”

“We haven’t even been on a date yet!” Brienne protested. “You can’t plan our future together when we haven’t even—”

Jaime kissed her again, then began placing little kisses along her jaw and down her neck. She closed her eyes, tilting her head so he could have better access, forgetting that they were in a godswood in the middle of the university where they both worked. She put her arms around him and forgot everything except Jaime.

And for the first time in her life, Brienne Tarth felt extraordinary.


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue: In which the author provides a quick update on what everyone did next, and encourages everyone to have insulin ready in case it gets too sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I really intended to leave it at thirteen parts, but I'm a little superstitious, so here's an epilogue!!!

What Came Next…

Janos Slynt (crooked Gold Cloak) is sentenced to multiple life terms in the Black Cells for being an accessory to The Kraken. He would love to tell everyone that he thinks he knows who The Evenstar really is but doesn’t because then he’d have to tell everyone how he knows.

Jacelyn Bywater (honest Gold Cloak) is promoted to Commander of the Gold Cloaks in the aftermath of the Slynt Scandal. His relationship with The Evenstar is much more cordial than she’s ever had with a Gold Cloak.

Ser Podrick Payne (Kingsguard) completes his undercover assignment and is given a commendation by King Brandon X. He becomes very friendly with one Dr. Brienne Tarth.

Barristan Selmy (Lord Commander of the Kingsguard) continues to lead his men in their protection of the King and his secrets. However, they draw the line at keeping the Prime Minister’s secrets.

Robert Baratheon (Prime Minister of Westeros) decides against running for the third term when rumors leak about the number of bastards he’s fathered. He’s still trying to figure out how it got to be as many as sixteen.

King Brandon X Stark (the Three-Eyed Crow) remains a benevolent ruler of Westeros. In the next few years, he prepares to hand over the throne to his next incarnation. No one who doesn’t know the secret ever questions this, and they never will.

Bran Stark (former Librarian) is overjoyed when he hears that Jaime agreed to take over some of his duties, leaving him free to work on maintaining security. He promptly changes his name to The Hacker and is seen even less at the dinner table. Catelyn despairs of him ever leaving home.

Arya Stark (Morning Star) fights crime in the North and north of the Wall. She gets a kick out of getting in trouble with the Night’s Watch, since she thinks none of them know who she really is. Of course they know because her cousin Jon is the Lord Commander, which is why she gets away with as much as she does.

Gendry Waters (The Stag) fights crime in the Stormlands, meets up with Arya for sexy weekends regularly, and figures that someday, when they retire, they’ll set off on the adventures they’re always talking about. He agrees with her that marriage is archaic, and he’d just as soon have fun.

Addam Marbrand (The Hunter) fights crime in the Reach, where he meets one of Margaery Tyrell’s cousins, Alla. Margaery is furious because she knows of Addam’s reputation as a player, but he swears he’s reformed. Time will tell.

Obara Sand (Sand Snake) fights crime in Dorne, where she lives life on her own terms despite what her family wants from her. She learns a few tricks from Arya and decides against having the beauty mark removed from her face.

Tyrion Lannister (too damn smart for a nickname and a silly outfit) fights crime wherever he finds it. He swears one of these days, he’s going to catch his father doing something illegal and nail him, too. No luck so far.

Sansa Stark and Margaery Tyrell (queens of seduction) move in together a few months after the events of this story. Sansa still has cookies available for anyone who needs comfort and Margaery provides Brienne advice whenever she feels like using her superpowers on Jaime.

Selwyn Tarth (former Evenstar) remains in Winterfell, as the cold of the region helps keep his pyrokinetic powers in check. He makes more of an effort to reach out to others, and encourages Brienne to do the same.

Jaime Lannister (The Librarian) writes a book proving that Lady Brienne of Tarth, the last Evenstar’s heir, was the Blue Knight—with his Brienne’s approval. He revels in learning everything about superheroes through his work as The Librarian and drives Brienne up the wall sometimes with what he learns. He always makes it up to her, though.

Brienne Tarth (The Evenstar) fights crime in the Crownlands, especially King’s Landing. She still pretends to live an ordinary life but knows that what she has is something special. She relieves her Uncle Endrew’s mind nine months after the events of this story by having her first child, conceived in a godswood on the campus of KLU.

Joanna Tarth (future Evenstar) moves objects around with her mind before she’s a year old. Her little brother, Cameron (future Golden Lion), picks up his crib when he’s two. Her little sister, Alysanne (who agrees with her Uncle Tyrion that nicknames and outfits are stupid), disappears suddenly from the dinner table one night when she’s eight and returns a minute later with her best friend.

Their parents despair of ever teaching any of them discipline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story wouldn't have been possible without so many people. First and foremost, thisisamadhouse, who provided the prompt that I used for the story. Even when I was tearing my hair out worrying that I wouldn't get the story done in time, I had a great time writing this.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta, waxedpaperdoor, who talked me down off the ledge several times throughout the writing of this story and did a great job of reviewing everything at the last minute despite having a very busy life of her own!!!
> 
> Thanks to everybody who provided encouragement in the discord as I was frantically getting this done. I don't know if Sprinto was a feature discord provided or if someone invented it for the purpose, but Sprinto SAVED MY LIFE!!! (So did Slipso that one time. :D)
> 
> And finally, to the organizers of the Jaime x Brienne Fic Exchange 2020, who I know worked their butts off to get everything put together--you guys are amazing!! This was one of the best experiences I've had in fandom. *chef's kiss*


End file.
